Wednesday, February 27, 2008

More Busy-ness.....

Just when I think there appears to be a break.... I'm tricked & we start looking at a lot of busy-ness again.

First appearances were that DH and DD would be going to an Ice Dogs (Junior A's league) game this weekend and would leave me alone Friday & Saturday nights for some down-time. I borrowed the second disk of Firefly from work, and planned on watching all four episodes Friday night.

As for Saturday, I'd hoped to do some baking (the banana bread I didn't get made last weekend) in the morning, then I've got a get-together at a friend's house to go to in the evening.

Yesterday, I found out that there's been a game added to March's hockey schedual, for this Saturday. At 11:30 at the ice-rink near Dad's house. Against Healy. DD will be goalie. Ok. That's no big problem.

Just now, talking to Dad, he's heading in to town as I write this to talk to a real-estate agent that goes to his church about putting his house on the market. So, he's starting to stress (BIG TIME stress, not like his usual "always stressing a bit about something" level) about getting the last of the big items out of the house. INCLUDING my kitchen shrenk. (A "shrenk", though I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling, is a German-made kitchen-cabinet unit.) The one that I'm inheriting has been in the garage at Dad's house for the 20+ years he's lived in that house, but predates WW2. It's an antique. It's not in the best of shape, but it's MINE! *grin* I'll polish it up (hopefully) and replace broken/missing knobs & handles, and it'll be all mine!

Anyway, it's going to be put here in the computer room, on part of the wall that the computer desk sits against now. And I'm going to fill it with my yarn! BUT, that requires getting the computer room cleaned up & cleared out enough to bring the shrenk (pronounced "shrunk") in. And then we'll have to move the gun cabinet, the computer desk, the TV, and Jenny's kennel around in a whole 'nother configuration to make the shrenk fit and yet to maintain our "computer room". Basically, the computer desk (a big ol' "L" shaped thing) will flip around to the other side of the window, where the gun cabinet sits currently. The gun cabinet will need to be placed in the corner which the computer desk currently occupies. And the shrenk will take up the rest of this wall, including the space where we store DD's hockey bags. At least one of the bags will be stored ABOVE the shrenk. We don't know yet where we're going to put the TV or Jenny's kennel. Those are smaller items though that can be figured out AFTER we've rearranged the rest. *grin*

Needless to say, I don't know that I'm going to get to watch Firefly this weekend. *sigh* I'm STILL hoping Whim!!!!

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This week has been an interesting one, so far.

Sunday, I lost my voice. Not entirely completely. But enough that I was whispering because every time I'd try to talk my voice would crack & half of what I said was un-intelligable.

Monday, I lost it completely. Literally. Even my whispers were almost too soft to be heard. And that's my longest work-day, with 2 shifts at the desk. Made for some interesting times. I had a lot of patrons think I was trying to tell THEM to be quiet (after all, it IS a library!) by whispering to THEM. I'd just laugh (as much as I could laugh) and tell them that no.... This is me with laryngitis. Not me trying to tell them to tone it down. *grin*

My boss was all worried that I'd be pissing a lot of patrons off by being unable to speak. She even offered to take me off my two desk shifts. I assured her that it wouldn't be a problem. And I was right. I had one or two people start to get frustrated till they realized that I was literally without voice, then they calmly accepted that they'd have to lean in to hear what I was trying to tell them, and I was wished well as they left. But, by and large most of the patrons know me (by sight, of course) and knew that this wasn't normal, and so I had a lot of grins & joking, and since I had a smile on my face & a good attitude about it, so did they! Not one person got really peevish because I couldn't be heard. And I'm glad I didn't give up my two desk shifts to spend the entire day out in the stacks. I love shelving books, but not for 8 hours straight!

Got my voice back partially yesterday. Very raspy still, but able to be heard. My desk shift was the last hour of my day, yesterday, and in the last 10 minutes we had some unwanted excitement. One of the school kids who comes in every day is always picked up by either her Mom (who I recognise on sight, along with the little girl) or her grandma. Her brother is usually there with her as well, though he's a couple of years older than her. Anyway, the little girl (11 years old) was hanging out with a school friend yesterday, as she usually does. And at about 5 pm the little girl started sitting in the foyer, obviously waiting for Mom to arrive & pick her up. At about 5:30 the little girl said to her best friend "she's here, we've gotta go, she's here!" and I thought she was talking about Mom, and they left.

At 5:55, Mom walks in the library doors looking for the little girl. Walks around the library, looking for little girl. Starts worrying when the little girl couldn't be found at any of the study tables, on any of the chairs or benches, or in any of the study-rooms. So she had the circulation desk page the little girl. 5 minutes later, Mom's looking VERY aggitated & the little girl still hasn't come to the desk. So, I went & told the mom that I thought I'd seen the little girl & her friend leave at approx. 5:30, but I didn't want to say anything right away because I couldn't be sure the little girl hadn't come BACK into the library behind me while I was busy with other patrons. But, sure enough, there was no sign what-so-ever of this little girl. Part of the reason this woman was so freaked (beyond the usual "my child is missing and I don't know how to find her") was the fact that this little girl is Type 1 Diabetic, and she was due up for dinner & her shot between 6:30 and 7 pm.

The circ desk did another announcement over the intercom system, asking the little girl to please come to the circ desk, with still no answer. By now it was certain she'd left the library with somebody OTHER than a parent or guardian, and without her Mom's approval. Of course, at one point, the Mom started getting peeved with US for not stopping the little girl from leaving. I reminded her that I at least have NO authority to stop somebody from leaving, or to kick them out. She seemed to think that this is what our security guard is for. *shaking head* No, he's there to make sure that folks mind their manners, not to watch your kid for ya.

Anyway, at 6 I had to leave to go home. So I filled in my boss on what was going on, and gave the Mom my home number in case I needed to pass what little info I had on to the cops when they were finally notified that this little girl was missing.

At about 8:30, the girl's grandma (who was at the library with Mom, also frantic about her granddaughter's disappearance) called me to say thank you for my help, and to let me know that the little girl had been brought BACK to the library by the friend's Dad. Evidently the little girl came home with the friend & friend's Mom, but when the little girl's mom didn't come by to pick her up, Dad figured that the girl wasn't at his house entirely honestly. So he brought her back to the library just as the cops were arriving to take the statement of the girl's Mom & Grandma.

Not entirely "All's Well that End's Well"..... I suspect that this little girl is going to be grounded for a VERY long time (rightly so!) and probably even put in a real day-care until she can show proper maturity and Mom feels she can trust her not to run off again. But, the little girl is home safe.

*****

Which brings us to Wednesday. As yet (and it is now 9:45 am) I haven't heard anything on that job. Unfortunately, I'm losing faith that I've gotten the job. I know that it's still early in the day yet, and I know that expecting an answer yesterday was really hoping for the stars, but...... I feel more & more down & nervous and can't help but feel that the longer it takes to get an answer, the likelier it is that I didn't get the job. *sigh* I know it's somewhat irrational to think that way. I mean, we ARE talking about a Human Resources department's timing. And EVERYBODY knows how dreadfully slow HR's are about moving things along. My gut doesn't want to be rational though.

I'm also trying to school myself enough that if I find out I DON'T get the job, I don't spend the day as a blubbery mess of tears. I know that there will be other times to apply. And I know that I should "Bloom where I am planted" and know that where I am is where I'm supposed to be, but..... I also know that I've wanted this job for 6 years. I know that wanting something doesn't really count for much in the eyes of an employer, but I still hope that my two potential bosses see that my passion & my drive means I'd be great in this job.

Oh, and though my voice is still doing better than it was yesterday, it's still pretty raspy. One of my coworkers commented on how sexy my voice is when it's so raspy. I just laughed & said yeah, it sounds like I smoke a pack a day. That's sexy all right! *rolling eyes*

**********

Anyway.... Let's see.... Temps aren't quite as warm as they have been. This morning it was only about 5 deg. above zero when I let the dogs out at 7:50. But, that's rising to almost 20 during the day. And, for the end of February, that's nice weather! We did get a couple more inches of snow the other day, but it stopped the following afternoon. They were nice big fluffy flakes again, too!

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I think that about covers it for now. Sorry it's been so long since my last post.

Have a Blessed Day!

5 comments:

Toriz said...

Yeah, that's usually how it goes... Just when you think you're going to have some down time, everything happens at once.

Glad the little girl was found safe and sound (though in for a stern lecture and a long grounding I expect).

I'm also glad you're getting your voice back.

whimsical brainpan said...

I hope you are able to get some time to yourself this weekend. ;-)

I'm glad the little girl is ok. My Mom would have killed me if I had done something like that.

I hope your voice continues to improve and you hear good news about the job soon.

Robin said...

Girl, It's good to be able to do a good job wherever you go BUT if we were always content with 'Blooming where we were planted' we'd never make it out of the pot and into the garden.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and I admire you for your drive. And if you don't get it (and I think you will) as someone just told me-crying is good for the soul.

Anonymous said...

Glad your feeling better but sorry about your voice. Hope it gets better soon.

I'm glad the little girl is home safe and sound. As I was reading about her adventure my heart kept stopping. Kids just don't realize how scary it is for parents and other adults when they are not where they are supposed to be!

It sounded to me like you did a great job on your interview. I really hope that you get the job, but if not, at least your in a job that you like.

Brightest blessings and keep warm!

Heb

Connie Peterson said...

Please take a picture of your new piece of furniture. Sounds wonderful!

Good luck on the job!