One weird thing about being in a new office is trying to get used to all the noises. This is a big open area filled with huge cubicles that tends to eat sound... but not always. My cubicle is on the side of a building that faces a major avenue. I sit below an air vent. All of this means that the acoustics of the office are rather distracting. In time, I'll get use to it. Right now I'm very much in "squirrel!" mode.

Here's what else has my attention.

WORK

• I started converting some "deeper" pages of our website to the new look. That necessitated a slight tweak on the main pages and some more coding. It's working, but one page took me over an hour to figure out. Hopefully the rest of the process is a bit faster. I made a checklist to help me remember everything I need to do on these pages.
• We are about to hit the main interview stage of our research project on how faculty create their students' research assignments. I'm reading a book about interview best practices. I also sent out the initial response for interviewees. Happily, a few folks are already on board. 
• Our spring webinar series is off to a great start. We held our first session and I'm managing the logistics and marketing for the upcoming sessions. 
• Still trying to let students know that we moved. It's not easy. At some point, I might just turn into a twirly sign person.
• I had my first session on the Reference Desk in our new space. It's going to take a few weeks to learn the new set-up, the quirks of questions that come with the space (mostly directional questions at the moment), and how to best function for our students in this temporary area that also includes classrooms and faculty offices.

PERSONAL

• We ordered new appliances for our kitchen. Our new fridge is going to necessitate that we move our pantry cabinet. We're debating exactly where and how to Tetris everything in a logical manner that also allows for easy access. Eventually, we are going to gut the kitchen, but we want to like the look and operation of things until we hit that point.
• We had a large amount of bananas in our freezer. I made two loaves of banana bread. We still have more frozen bananas. Might need to make some muffins too.
• I got behind on my email newsletter and blog reading. I'm trying to put as much of a dent in those thing as I can without going overboard and neglecting other stuff. Might need to use this time to do a digital purge...
• We took our Christmas decorations down. The tree is leaving soon. I am going to be finding pine needles for months.

I am not a morning person. When given the option to get up and do things or sleep, I almost always choose sleep. That said, if I do wake up early, I can get along with my day without too much fuss.

Earlier this week, I got up at 5am. It was not by choice.

I tried lying in bed quietly to see if I could go back to sleep but to no avail. My brain had locked on to work things and wouldn't let go. Instead of fighting my alertness, falling asleep right before my alarm, and then jolting awake grumpy, I just got up. 

What greeted me was a dark sky, quiet home, and pre-set coffee pot that had not started brewing yet.

​It was kind of nice.

I set the coffee to brew while I sent out a few emails to deal with the work issue that was niggling my mind. Then, I poured a big mug of dark roast, cozied up on the couch, and just scrolled. Since COVID hit, it's not often that I feel like I get our home to myself.  Instead of puttering around doing things, I enjoyed almost two hours of idle time without interruption.

What do you do when you can't sleep?

There is snow in the forecast for this weekend. I could be a lot of snow. It could be a mix of snow and slush. Either way, I'm glad that Monday is a holiday and our daycare will already be closed. That's one less logistic hurdle I need to think about.

Here's what else was good this week:

• Our kiddo went back to daycare. (*joyful dancing*)
• I am on a Wordle winning streak.
• Realizing I have a stockpile of bananas in my freezer and can make a couple loaves of bread.
• The first issue of my library's subscription newsletter went out. We had 54 people signed up.
• Crispy squares of tofu.
• Having a helpful colleague with a longer wingspan than myself move large things around in my new cubicle.
• A fully restocked work candy dish and snack drawer.
• Identifying a spot in my new cubicle for a live plant.
• Adjusting a meatball recipe and having it turn out well.
• Enjoying a really sunny day and not needing to turn out the lights.

My office opened back up this week.

It's, um, not great.

We moved buildings to allow our space to be completely remodeled. For the time being, we are split between two floors. Services and user "pods" on one floor, offices and staff on another. I also went from a private office to a cubicle. It's a big cubicle with high walls but still a cubicle. I'm not sad about the space or the privacy. I'm sad that I lost my ability to take my mask off. Sure, we're all spaced out, but it's an open area. That means I'm wearing a KN95 all day. I'll get used to it, but I don't have to like it.

Here's what has my attention right now.

WORK

• Set up my cubicle with the stuff from my old office. I also have a list of things I want to buy to make this place feel less sterile. Plus, I attended my first Zoom meeting yesterday and realized the background behind me is a disaster. Need to clean up how boring it is.
• Marketing our relocation every way I can. Classes don't come back in person until next week, but we've already had students go to our old location and wonder where we were. 
• Our research project focusing on how faculty design their students' research projects is entering the interview phase. I sent out an interview request email to our targeted professor group. We already have a few responses.
• Wrote up lots of blog posts for the new semester. They all focus on the changes to the library and how it operates.
• Drafted my first newsletter to go out to our new subscription list. Will send that out tomorrow.

PERSONAL

• Can I say keeping an eye on COVID community transmission rates and pediatric vaccine trials? Cause, I am. I am reading a lot of articles and studies hoping that the spread goes down and trials are effective. 
• I created a yearly content calendar for this year's Green Committee newsletters. Now I just need to make the January edition.
• Thinking about taking our Christmas decorations down...

This was a looooooong week.

​Our kiddo was exposed to COVID at daycare and we had to quarantine for 10 days... while working full-time. It was not great. 

Early on in the week, we made the decision that screen time rules would go out the window. Our kiddo was thrilled that she got to watch her two favorite movies on repeat all week. I have now heard The Secret Life of Pets and The Secret Life of Pets 2 nearly a dozen times each.

Part of my mom guilt rages at this but - you know what - it's fine.

We are now two years into this pandemic and weeks like this are just about survival. There's only so much you can do when you have to work and have a kid who can't yet fully entertain themselves. It was much better for everyone's productivity and mental health to just let her happily watch and provide running commentary on the "doggies!"

What rules do you break to make it through rough weeks?

If my kid was writing this post, I bet the two things on her list would be "snow" and "screen time." She's gotten an abundant amount of both this week.

Normally, we try to limit the kiddo to screen time for an hour or two on weekend days. With needing to quarantine AND work, those rules went out the widow. So, she's watched The Secret Life of Pets and The Secret Life of Pets 2 basically on repeat all week.

You know what - it's fine. She's happy and we can actually do our jobs.

Here's what was good in my week:

• ​We are unfortunate to have a small stockpile of COVID rapid tests which has made keeping an eye on our quarantine easier.
• It snowed twice this week. The first storm was rough for our area, but our neighborhood got the pretty snow. The kind that sticks to trees and makes everything look like it's covered in powdered sugar.
• Quarantine meant that our kiddo got to actually experience her first real snow. We took a brief trip to the park where she walked around, went down the slide, and built (rather, destroyed) a small snowman with her dad.
• All day online professional development meant I got to listen in to work while playing Legos with my kiddo.
• Hot showers on cold days.
• Having a partner in parenting who does his best to balance out hard weeks like this.
• The smell of freshly baked blueberry muffins.
• Writing and sending thank you letters.
• A brand new bullet journal. The pages are so flat and crisp.
• The new website I designed for work went live and it looks awesome.

I am currently in survival mode.

One of our kiddo's daycare classmates tested positive for COVID. While we have all tested negative (multiple times now) we are in quarantine until next Monday. That means we're trying to work and provide childcare at the same time. It's a lot. So, I'm basically focusing on mission critical things only.

WORK

• Did a lot of post-vacation email triage.
• Created a project list with various deadlines for the start of the new semester. A lot of these projects center around our temporary relocation while our current space is remodeled.
• Finalized our spring webinar series. Now I'm working on the marketing and outreach towards our faculty. This series is going to cover the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. We librarians are quite familiar with it, but we think it would be helpful for teaching faculty to both learn about each Frame and see methods to use the competencies in their teaching.
• The library website I redesigned goes live tomorrow. I've been checking in with our electronic resources librarian to make sure everything is on track when we hit GO tomorrow. I also created the new carousel graphics we need for that section of the homepage and squeezed in a few final edits.
• One project left for the website is to convert all our LibGuides to the new template. I create a checklist and plan of action to get started on that once I'm out of quarantine. 

PERSONAL

• Had our kiddo color some thank you cards so we can send them out to people who gave her Christmas gifts. She was very methodical about not using the same color twice.
• Finished setting up my 2022 bullet journal. I have the yearly cover page yet to design, but all the important/working pages are done.
• Does cooking count here? We're doing a lot of cooking every day since all three of us are home right now. 

I stopped making resolutions.

I used to be that person saying "I will do X" and "I will become Y." But, after years of never doing or becoming, I just decided to stop. I was tired of setting myself up for failure. Every time I failed to follow through on a resolution, I felt guilt and shame. Who needs that? I finally realized that the only person I was disappointing was myself. 

Now, instead of resolutions, I take a look at my to do lists and decide which things need to get done in the upcoming year. If it's a big project or goal, I decide which particular steps need to get done in order to make progress on those items. It's kind of like resolutions, but I find that making things actionable works better for me. (Something about getting to cross things off a list is just so darn satisfying.)

Last year, I also decided to try doing little things to help me focus on what's important. I think about what thing we could do every month to come together as a family or which activities will help me relax. Then, I take all of this and put it in the front of my bullet journal. I limit myself to a two page spread for everything. That way, it's a reasonable amount of stuff for the coming year. Do I get to everything it? Of course not. But, I find that this has been achievable and non-guilt inducing way for me to get things done.

How do you set up for the new year?

It's the last day of 2021 and, honestly, this year cannot end fast enough.

I had such hope when the vaccines came out for a return to normalcy, but that hope was quickly dashed. The news that the Pfizer trial for kids under 5 didn't work was a gut punch. Our kiddo is curious by nature, but we've had to keep her away from things and people in order to maintain our access to daycare. This is a kid who wants to explore and adventure, but she's stuck at home. We're stuck at home. I'm a homebody but even I've been yearning to go out to see people and do things again. 

2020 was the year I was just tired and cranky. I started this weekly post as a way to help me cope and find the good that still exists.

Here's what was good in the past few weeks:

• Getting to see our families for the holidays. We hosted and everyone was vaccinated, boosted, and tested negative before they stepped foot inside.
• Watching the methodical way our kiddo decorated sugar cookies AND the adorable picture I grabbed of her watching them bake in the oven.
• Living really close to the National Zoo.
• Enjoying piles of my mom's baked goods.
• Playing with my kid's new Duplo Legos. (I may have had more fun than she did.)
• Having the week between Christmas and New Year's off from work.
• Getting the husband into playing Cookie Clicker.
• Enjoying a doorstopper of a novel.
• My mom took morning kid duty several times giving us a chance to sleep in. 
• Weeding our belongings and adding a HUGE pile to the donation pick-up.
• Taking a few minutes to color.
• Citrus flavored fizzy water.
• Catching up on all my podcast subscriptions.
• DC handing out free rapid tests at libraries (one of which happens to be just down the street from our home).
• Enjoying a trip to CostCo before the holidays that was not chaotic.
• Watching our kid trying to twirl noodles onto her little fork.
• Spending a few relaxing minutes coloring.

Why hello there. I took an unexpected break from blogging over the holidays. The last of our family left town today, so now I'm back at it. 

Here's where my attention has been lately:

WORK​

• Nothing! The upside of academia is getting a long break over the holidays. I don't go back until January 3. Aside from keeping an eye on my email, all of my projects are on the back burner until the new year.

PERSONAL

• Finding room for all the things we got for Christmas. And by we, I mean the kiddo. She got to play with two of her new toys immediately. The rest, we have hidden away in a closet and will slowly role out in the next few months.
• I conducted my annual weeding of all the things. I now have a MASSIVE pile of donations to go out during our building's next pick up. So long diaper changing pad!
• Right after I weeded everything, I took pictures of everything we own for our home inventory. I try to do this once a year. Next, I will go through the pictures and update the database I made to keep track of everything.
• This morning, I gave our home a deep clean. This is a dust the baseboards, wash the stove grates, scrub of the fridge out kind of deep clean.
• On top of the deep clean, I did about a dozen loads of laundry. If it could be machine washed, it was machine washed. Nothing like heading in to the new year with a clean slate.
• I set my goals for 2022 and will start setting up my bullet journal tomorrow.