Time has become wibbly wobbly during the pandemic. I went to the dentist today for the first time since the outbreak started. When I did the math on that (over two years), I cringed. Happily, my teeth are fine, but it goes to show how fast things have gone lately. That said, I don't want this much time to elapse again, so I'm adding reminders in to my calendar to schedule dental appointments at the appropriate 6-month intervals.

Here's what else has my attention.

WORK

• Our University's finals started yesterday. I like to provide motivational support on the library's social media. I drafted and scheduled a ton of posts. I also made graphics and took some pictures to add to the text.
• Some colleagues and I are gearing up to do interviews for a research project we're working on. We've got test interviews scheduled and I'm reading a book about the best way to conduct the sessions and analyze the results.
• I'm prepping for my spring semester outreach - drafting emails, making templates, and writing out plans so that I can hit the ground running in the new year.
• The recorded sessions from the Internet Librarian conference go offline at the end of the month. I'm watching them as fast as a I can. (Good thing you can increase the playback speed.)
• We're relocating the library (temporarily) for a remodel. I packed up my office and discovered I had only one box of personal/desk items but many boxes of material for book displays. You know you're an outreach librarian when...

PERSONAL

• Still potty training. It's going well. More woohoos than accidents.
• Wrote up, addressed, and mailed all of our holiday cards.
• Kiddo will be getting a bunch of new toys for Christmas. We're weeding her current collection of the items she no longer plays with. 
• Watching all the Hallmark Channel movies...

Yesterday, I was out running an errand when I came across an e-cycling event at our local library branch.

We always seem to have a bag of stuff to e-cycle hanging about. It just gets fuller and fuller (seriously, where do all those random cords come from?) until I can't take it hanging in our closet anymore. Then, we have to figure how to squeeze in some errands that include dropping this annoying bag off. Sadly, there is no e-cycle location close to us. 

That is why I was so happy to see this event pop-up. I finished my errand, ran home, and grabbed the e-cycle bag. Then all I had to do was walk a block to the truck, thank the people running the event, and I was done. No errand planning. No squeezing something in to an already busy day. No getting more and more annoyed that the cords are somehow multiplying behind my back. Just a quick trip down the street and I was done. This made my day.

What random thing made your week a little bit better?

Our kiddo was home yesterday and today with a runny nose. We need to have a doctor clear her before we can return to daycare. Luckily, our pediatrician's office does same day sick visits. I am forever grateful that that is an option for us.

Here's what else was good in my week:

• Eating dumplings for lunch AND clearing out some space in the freezer
• Sending holiday cards
• Self-adhesive stamps
• The smell of our live Christmas tree
• Getting my COVID booster shot (with minimal side effects)
• Getting to use the bluetooth keyboard and mouse at the good home office desk
• Second monitors
• My work office space heater
• The quick burst of snow on the walk to daycare earlier in the week
• Finally getting time to start reading a book I need for work

Now that I've finished the hard work of coding our new webpage, I almost feel lost. (That project was with me for MONTHS.) Our semester is winding down and we're getting ready to move buildings so a remodel of our current space can happen. That means I don't want to take on any major projects this month. So, I think I am declaring December "Admin and Mini Projects" month. Still productive, but nothing too stressful or time consuming.

WORK

• This afternoon, I am serving as a moderator for an online event about OER. It's a short session, but I'm more than happy to help promote free and low-cost material adoption to the faculty in our consortium.
• I like to do an uplifting binge of social media posts during finals week. I'm drafting content and creating graphics to make my life easier when exams roll around.
• We are going to try sending a monthly e-mail newsletter starting next semester. I created a subscription page and drafted a template. Fingers crossed we start to get subscribers because we have a lot of great and fun ideas we want to share.
• I started to watch the recorded sessions of the 2021 Internet Librarian conference that I was unable to attend live.

PERSONAL

• We picked up our Christmas tree and decorated our home. So far, our kiddo has been great about not touching things that we want to be off-limits. Fingers crossed this holds for the rest of the holiday season. 
• I'm making plans for what needs to happen before the year is out. Relying heavily on my bullet journal and Google Keep lists to keep me organized. Have to remember to focus on feasibility.
• Set up my bullet journal for December. It looks like I will have just two pages left over for next year planning at the back. I have never come this close to running out of space before.