I'm taking a little time off  writing for the holidays. Normal posts will resume the first week of January.

I will be sharing some stuff in my newsletter while I'm on break. Check it out and subscribe here.

My colleagues and I were chatting last week about how we've entered the "meh" time of the year.

In academia, the time between semesters is a mixed bag. As librarians, we are finally free to focus solely on our own priorities. Our space is so empty we are only "on call" for reference work, no one is asking for classes, and most teaching faculty skedaddle after they turn in their grades.  Our calendars are a lot emptier. But, we constantly wrestle with the mental exhaustion and general "eh, do I have to?" feeling that comes after the semester ends. 

Knowing that we are sliding into the holidays, I try to be mindful of my energy levels. Instead of cramming in all the things, I try to complete one major priority and then just tie up loose ends. On my last day in the office - which happens to be tomorrow since I'm using up vacation days - I generally watch some webinars while I clean up my cubicle and write out a to do list for the new year. 

Sure it's not "real" productivity, but at least it's progress. 

How do you wrap up work for the year?

It rained all day yesterday. A cold, dreary downpour the entire day. It was gross and I didn't like it. Today, it may be rather cold, but the sun is shining brilliantly. I'm excited that the days will start getting longer soon.

Here's what else made me happy this week:

• I knocked out almost my entire personal email backlog - and got to Inbox Zero for work.
• When kiddo saw me on the couch with my ankle propped up on a pile of pillows, she ran to her room and came out carrying all her pillows to copy me. The pillows were three times to size of her.
• Managed to Tetris all the baked goods to fit in my freezer
• New sheets on our bed
• We ordered delicious food to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary
• Got a clean bill of oral health from the dentist
• Kiddo asked if I got to watch Daniel Tiger at the dentist (just like she does)
• Ankle is doing a little bit better every day
• Kiddo after twirling a lot, "Mom! Our house is moving!"

My colleagues and I were chatting today about how we've entered the malaise weeks. Technically the holidays are not here, but the semester is over and our drive to focus on work is gone. We moved a meeting to comments over email because none of us could be bothered. I'm glad we're a team on this.

Here's what little focus I have left is going towards:

1. Website Usability: I finished drafting my final report today. Tomorrow I will edit and share with my colleagues. I have such a long list of things that need to be fixed. At least I know that I can take my time and just tweak our website as time allows. I also learned a better way to do usability testing that will be easier on me and yield more useful information. The goal is to make this something we do once each semester so that we are always improving our website.
2. Holiday Planning and Prep: Even with my bum ankle I still managed to prep a batch of muffins, two rounds of scones, a batch of spinach balls, and two banana breads. Now I'm making a list of our next grocery run and meal planning for Christmas itself. I also grabbed the last of the gifts we need. (Luckily for me, the husband does most of the wrapping.)
   
3. End of Year Wrap Ups: This is both home and work. I'm basically tying up lose ends and making plans for what needs to happen in the new year. I also need to get around to doing my personal strategic planning for 2023...
   

A friend and I went to see poet Rupi Kaur live and now I want to read all her work. Plus one other title.

Friday morning, I wrapped up an optometrist appointment and quick pop in of my favorite stationery store when my plans got a little more complicated. It was gloriously sunny out and I decided to walk the 2 miles home. Stupidly, I was checking my phone as I stepped off a curb and landed awkwardly in a small pothole. 

I crumpled immediately but caught myself with my hand. I felt several pops in my left ankle but didn't hear any cracks or feel searing pain. There was a small seating area a few steps away so I hobbled there and assessed. After the initial shock subsided, I tested my ankle and found it could bear some weight - albeit uncomfortably. 

Luckily for me, the metro station was right across the street. I limped my way over, took the train one stop, and then limped the rest of the way home. Once home, my husband helped me set up shop at my desk with an ice pack and chair to prop up my leg. 

Then began the Googling. I checked various websites to find the difference between an ankle sprain and a break. This is one of those injuries where many of the symptoms overlap. Both are painful, both swell, both cause the inability to bear weight on the joint. The one key difference seems to be where the sight of the pain occurs. For me, nothing was excruciating and, when I poked around, it was only the soft spots that really hurt. I diagnosed myself with a sprain and decided to wait it out. 

As of right now, I'm doing okay. The joint is stiff and I have limited range of motion, but I can control the swelling with ice and the uncomfortable pain with some Advil. 

But it never fails, just when you're at your busiest (this was supposed to the main prep/baking weekend before our holiday party), life puts something in the way to force you to slow down. 

Sometimes, adrenaline is a good thing. I was walking home from an optometrist appointment today when I stepped off the curb into a pothole. Next thing I know, I'm catching myself with my hand on the ground as I roll my ankle. I hobbled over to a nearby bench to make an assessment. After a few minutes, I began my limp to the metro where I did manage to make it home. Right now, I'm not sure if this is a sprain or something worse, but I'm glad I am home. At least here my husband can help me.

Here's what else was good in my week:

• My reference desk shifts were relatively quiet all week
• Kiddo was adorably worried that the Christmas tree would fall off the car on the drive home
• The smell of our fresh Christmas tree every time I come home
• The (very necessary) space heater in my office cubicle
• Sparkly pens
• Creating a holiday chandelier decoration with materials I already had on hand
• Sharing a bag of donut munchkins with the kiddo
• I went out. On a weeknight! With a friend! 
• Finding a babysitter for New Year's Eve

The Dazzling Heights
Katharine McGee

My current read is the second in McGee's series about a bunch of teens living in a super skyscraper. The last hundred pages of The Thousandth Floor turned out great! I finished them in rapid succession and immediately requested the other two books in the trilogy from the library. I just started this book a few days ago. It’s, once again, heavy with the character introductions but at least I’m used to the world.

While I was waiting for those books to arrive, I read the graphic novelization of The Adventure Zone’s The Crystal Kingdom. (Love that podcast.) I forgot so many parts of this story! It was a lot of fun. The illustrator has a way with facial expressions that exude emotion and comedy.
​
*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

One thing I am not doing right now is filling in my bullet journal for this month. The regular monthly pages are all there, but I keep procrastinating filling in events and to do items. Maybe I'll get around to it tonight...

Here's what I am working on:

1. Website Usability Tests - The tests are done and they were enlightening. I only completed 7 out of the 15 I wanted (and all but one were faculty). Still have plenty to work with - and I learned that doing 5 total is probably all I needed. Now, I am in the midst of analysis and report writing. I will be adjusting our methods for the next round. It's fascinating that people knowingly did not complete a task but then still said it was "somewhat easy." Not useful as data, but useful in a psychological aspect.
2. Semester Wrap Up - I am mentally easing out of this semester. I'm trying to tie up lose ends on projects and set myself up to start anew in 2023. I've got a bunch of outreach material ready to end the year and a list of things to tackle when the break is over. I'm also planning out what needs to happen in the next two weeks, what needs to happen as soon as the holiday break is over, and what needs to happen early next semester. (Trello - you are so useful to me right now.)
   
3. Holiday Prep - I spent some time putting baking and other various holiday prep onto my calendar. Fingers crossed I didn't forget anything. Grocery lists are being made and gift lists are being updated. Our home is now fully decorated except for the new thing I want to try on our dining room chandelier. The husband started to write out his batch of the holiday cards and I'll start mine tonight. If my hand doesn't cramp  up, I may just push through and write them all. I'll save the envelopes for tomorrow.

One of my go to search tricks is using quotation marks. 

Putting quotation marks around a keyword phrase when you enter it into the search box—for example, by typing “climate change” or “global warming”—allows you to search for an exact phrase. That is, your search results will contain items that have the words you put in quotation marks right next to each other and not items that have one word in one place and another word in another, possibly unrelated place.

Quotation marks can be very helpful when you are searching for a concept that isn’t expressed with only one word. Plus, they work on almost every search tool, including Google.