THE CHRISTMAS TREE AT WORK

Who doesn't like looking at Christmas trees?  Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, it's pretty to look at.  I showed you the kids decorating the tree a couple of days ago.  It's finished now.

I thought I would give you some close-ups of the pretty ornaments hanging from the branches.

Me?  My tree is still in the box in the dining room.  I've given up for this year.  Hope your decorating is going well.

Kathy
8 days to retirement

A PARTY FOR LIZ

It was back to work today and our goodbye party for Liz.  Not only did she get a huge promotion at work, she is getting married this Saturday.

I had stopped off on my way in to work to get her a cake.  I got a chocolate strawberry shortcake with strawberries on top and mini cannoli.  

Doug was a wonder.  He used to work for a non-profit company which did all kinds of parties to raise money so he knew how to put everything together.  And what a job he did!

He brought red pepper strips and garlic stuffed olives.  The second plate was three bean salad with chickpeas, edamame and red beans and grilled asparagus.

The third plate was artichoke hearts with Swiss cheese and Harvarti cheese and the fourth plate was eggplant marinade with olive oil and vinegar mushrooms

We got two pizzas:  one cheese and one white pizza with spinach.

There were every kind of juice and soda imaginable.  There was even non-alcholic wine.

Diane brought in French onion dip, carrots and celery.  There were also chips, but everyone ate those first.

A lighted bowl of Lindt chocolate truffles.  Doug put battery lit lights in all the baskets and bowls to add ambience.

Here is the cake I got her.  It was so good!

We lit a candle and sang "Happy promotion and upcoming wedding to you."  Then Liz blew out the candle.  We were all laughing so hard it was hard to sing.

 We gave Liz a card we had all signed with some money that we had collected for her and she started to cry.  It was so sweet.  Her fiance came in at the end of the day with the car to help her carry things home.  She is packing up all her books and personal belongings.  Tomorrow is her last day with us.

It's been a good day. 

Kathy
54 days to retirement 

HOORAY, IT'S THE WEEKEND!

It's so beautiful today.  Much too pretty a day to be at work.  The sun is shining, the temperatures are perfect and I'm sitting at the front desk watching Bob shelve some videos.  Doesn't get much better than that if you have to be at work.

It's pretty quiet in here today.  Most people think we are closed because of the Pope's visit.  And a lot of things in the city are closed.  Russ, my friend Debbie's husband, has no work today.  The phone keeps ringing here to find out if we are open today or not.  We are!

Midmorning we got a call that the President of the library was  going around visiting branches.   We were next on the list.  We all  quickly found work to do and were all busy and productive when she showed up.  She didn't stay very long, maybe about 1/2 hour, but shook my hand on her way out and said it was nice to see me again.  OK.  There are hundreds of people who work for the library and she can't possibly know them all.  I doubt very much if she even knows who I am.  But that was nice of  her.

I got some not so good news from my doctor yesterday.    She had the results of the blood test I took on Monday.  My thyroid level is worse.  It's down to 1/3 of what it should be.  She told me not to worry that it is often up and down until the right level of synthroid  is found.  So she increased my dosage once again and gave me more detailed directions on how to take it.  She said I should be feeling much better within a week.  I sure hope so.

And then to top it off when I took Joe to the  hospital yesterday I blew out my knee driving home.  What else can happen?  I am in quite a bit of pain, but it's getting better.  And I have just a few more hours until I go home and can put it up for the weekend.  All  is good in my world.  You can tell I'm in a  good mood today.

I'll finish the  post when I get home because it's  starting to get busy and if I'm being paid to work, I really should do just that.

So now I'm home.  We just had an awesome dinner.  I made pork chops, mashed sweet potatoes and creamed corn.  I got little pumpkin pies for dessert.  It was a real autumn dinner and Joe LOVED it.  He kept saying over and over that my dinner was "slamming".  That's his term for awesome.

I am looking forward to the weekend.  It's the last one of our summer schedule at work.  Next week we start Saturday hours and we are open six days a week.  It is my Saturday to work.  Things will be much different.  

I just discovered the show "The Great Food Truck Race."  I know, I'm slow and it's been on for six seasons now.  I DVRed last season, Season 5, and I'm on a marathon watching session.  I know I will get through the season this weekend.  Then it's on to this season, Season 6.  So I'm going back to watching that.  Have a good night everyone.

A NEW BEGINNING

Things are constantly changing in our lives.  So much is going on and especially at work.

Boss is back today after being on vacation for two weeks.  He is rested and happy.  That's a good thing.  Vacations are good for everyone.

Today is Angela's last day.  Seasonals  (which she is) stay for only nine months and then they have to be off for three months before they can be rehired.  Angela, however, got another job so she won't be returning.  I'll really miss her.  After a rough start, she has become a  good friend.

I got up early this morning and baked her cookies.  Bob brought in iced tea and juice and Diane and Doug got a card and flowers.  We had to do something nice for her.

Also last Friday was our guard's last day with us. He told us at the end of the day that he was being transferred to Rodriguez and the guard at Rodriguez was coming to our branch.  In fact, I was acting librarian at lunchtime when Deb, the new guard, came in.  I introduced myself and she seemed really nice.  Well let me tell you!  We finally have a super guard!  She is so good.  Knows her job, does it well, and is so sweet too.  We hit it off immediately.  I know she is going to fit in.

Boss left Diane, Deb and I to close up the branch.  Everything went OK though.

Yesterday the Director of the Bible Fellowship Church was visiting in our service.  He was talking to the Elders afterwards.  Of course I don't know what was being said, but I have a feeling he came to scope out things and to find us a new pastor.  It would be great to have a pastor so quickly.  We thought we would have to wait several years.  Elder Rich has been doing a good job holding things together, but we really need a pastor.  Having one before the holidays would be so great.

So on that note I am going to go start dinner.  Flounder, corn on the cob and zucchini.  At least that's what I'm thinking.  Last week I had an all vegetable dinner.  Corn, tomatoes, mixed veggies and homemade biscuits.  It was so good.  I think I'm going to do something similar later this week.

But I digress.  Really have to get going.  Talk to you all later.

Kathy

 

WHAT A WEEK!

It was back to work yesterday.  At least I woke up in time to get a couple of loads of wash done and hung on the line.  I made breakfast and got my lunch together.  Then I got ME together and headed off to work wondering what the day would bring.

I found out all too soon.  As I was driving I saw a light on the dashboard out of the corner of my eye.  It was the check engine light.  Oh boy!  I didn't know what to do so I called Joe on the car phone.  I love that no hands, voice activated phone.  He said to come back home.  So I called work, turned around and came back.  I called my mechanic and he asked if it was blinking or steady.  I told him steady.  He said that was nothing to worry about, it was one of the sensors and if it didn't go off in a couple of days to bring it in.  He said that 90% of the time it is the gas cap and I had gotten gas in Jersey last week where they pump it and I don't.  So I took off the gas cap and put it back on but the light is still lit.  I made an appointment to take it in on Wednesday.  Oh, yes, I finally got the air conditioning working!  It's wonderful.  Now this.  This car is going to bankrupt me!

I got to work 1 1/2 hours late to find out that the Fishtown Branch is going to be closed for the rest of this week.  So I had my own people  (Angela, Doug and Bob) along with Fishtown's people (Dianne, Cindy and Frank).  Can I hang them from the ceiling?  Sheila was there too and I guess it's a good thing that Boss is on vacation this week so she has a desk to sit at.  There weren't even enough chairs for everyone in the back room.  The good news was I wasn't on the front desk at all yesterday.  The bad news was I didn't have much to do.  When the delivery came Angela and I jumped on it just to have something to do.

Having so many people means that all the shelving is done, things are straightened up, the newspapers and magazines are up to date, customers are taken care of quickly.  So there are some advantages.

Today Diane comes back from her vacation.  Dianne and Sheila will go to Fishtown for a couple hours to clean some things up, but will be in later.  Bob will be there and Doug took off.  So not too bad.

I'm heading off to Bible study now.  We are in Galatians 1:1-10 today.  All about how you can't work your way into heaven.  It's all God's grace.  I'm really excited about teaching this book.  I think it's going to be really good.

Before I go, here's a clip of the Hope Philly Praise Band from Sunday.  Enjoy.

Kathy

THE WEEKEND

It's been quite a good weekend this week.  I was not looking forward to working on Saturday, but it actually turned out to be a lot of fun.  I enjoyed seeing some of the people I used to work with, getting caught up with them and others that weren't there.  I liked having an easier day.  I had forgotten that it wasn't as stressful with more people to help you out.  I really did enjoy my 8 years working there.

As you can see, it's much larger than the Richmond Library where I usually work.  There are four floors and six departments in the building.

This is the view from the balcony on the top floor.  On the bottom is the Humanities Department, the middle section is Magazines and Newspapers, on the top is Social Sciences and Technology.

This is the Children's Department which is on the lower level.

They had a Summer Reading Program kickoff party on Saturday.  It was a Mad Hatter Tea Party and the Children's Librarian read them part of Alice in Wonderland as they sipped on iced tea and ate little sandwiches and cupcakes.  How nice!






I was on the front desk at noon time and the first people I waited on were three of my regular customers from Richmond.  We greeted each other and they said they didn't expect to see me at Northeast.  I laughed and told them I was everywhere and they couldn't escape.  They were concerned that I might have been transferred, but I told them it was just for the day and I would see them at Richmond on Monday.  That just started my day off right.

Sunday was such a beautiful day.  But another hot one.

I had bought all these blueberries on Friday so decided to make lemon blueberry bread for our church's Coffee Hour.

Everyone loved it.  I had two pieces left which I brought home to Joe who didn't go to church this morning.

I took some pictures of the people before the service started to show Joe who was there.  He misses it if he can't get there.

And I took a short video of the Praise Band for him which I'll share with you also.

Of course being as it was Flag Day I decorated the front of the house before I left this morning.

I had plans to do so much today, but I was in so much pain that I took some medicine and it put me right out.  I slept the day away.  Oh well, I guess I needed it.

So now it's back to work today.  I wonder how things will be since it is the first day of our Summer Reading Program.  I hope all goes well.

I'd better finish the dishes and wash and get some sleep.  Until later...

Kathy

FRIDAY VIEW

Hello everyone.  It was back to work today and even though the schools got out at noon because the weather was too hot to have classes, it wasn't an overwhelming or bad day.  I am working on putting together a new "Humor" section and so have been entering books and pulling current humor books off of the shelf to put them in this new category.  It's interesting and fun.  (I enjoy reading some of the jokes too.)

What happens to a frog's car when it breaks down?
It gets toad away.  

What did the duck say when she bought lipstick?
"Put it on my bill." 

Well, enough of that.  Go ahead and groan now. 

It was another hot day today.  I went to Wendy's and got their new Strawberry Fields Chicken Salad for lunch.  I was pleasantly surprised by it.  It was really good.  I'm going to get it again.  I just had to take my medicine beforehand because it had cheese on it.

I stopped at Shop Rite after work and did my food shopping.  I spent more than I expected to but got enough for several weeks so I'm happy with that.  It is so much easier to shop right after work on Friday.  The store is crowded (it's never NOT crowded) but not as bad at 5 p.m. than it is at other times.  I can usually find a parking spot pretty close to the door too.  I guess 5 p.m. on Friday night is not when most people are shopping.  I haven't been shopping in 3 weeks so our shelves were pretty bare.  It's nice to see them filled again.  I have lots of ideas for dinners.

I wanted to have fish tonight, but the crab cakes were sold out and so were the flounder and tilapia.  The $8.99 salmon was gone and only the $13.99 salmon filet was left. I couldn't afford that. I looked at the refrigerated fish (left overs from yesterday) but that was pretty bare also.  So I did what I almost never do and looked at the frozen fish.  I found a package of two cod filets with an herb seasoned crust on them.  The price was right and they looked good so I decided to try them.  Oh my!  They are our new favorite fish.  It was wonderful.  I had that with seasoned fries and sliced tomato.  So good.  And a fast dinner since I got home so late.

Tomorrow I am working at my old stomping ground.  I am taking my turn at Northeast Regional Library where I worked for 8 years.  Just about half of my time with the library was spent there.  We had to put in to help out because they are so short handed.  This is actually the first Saturday the branch libraries are closed so I expect it to be a busy day tomorrow.  Our children's librarian, Liz, will be working there too, so I told her I would come to that department to see her.  The Northeast is the busiest branch outside of the Central Library.  There are four floors and six departments in the building.  It's huge.  So this will be quite a change from my usual day.  I am not looking forward to it, but after this Saturday I have my weekend free for the rest of the summer.  Yay!

So for your Friday View this week I wanted to show you my new flower arrangement outside of my front door.  I finally took down the Christmas tree (Oh, don't look at me like that.  It's been undecorated since New Year's Day.) and put in some pretty flowers.  It looks very summery now.

I'm going to end because I know it's going to be a long day tomorrow.  Have a good one, folks.


Kathy

GOODBYE CLARISSA

Friday was the last day of work for my co-worker, Clarissa.  She is moving on to another (and hopefully better) job.  We had an impromptu party for her.  Jerry ordered pizza and I made her a pumpkin dump cake -- her favorite.  I'm really sorry to see her go.  She has become a good friend in the last six months that she has been with us.  Everyone brings a different dynamic into the situation and it will be very different at work without her.

Clarissa and me.

Jules our guard, Clarissa, Jerry our adult librarian

Tom our volunteer and Clarissa

Clarissa and Liz our children's librarian

The pumpkin dump cake with a candle.  At Jerry's request we sang, "Happy fifth new job to you".  She laughed.

 By the end of the day there were many tears and exchanging of phone numbers and email addresses.  We will miss her.

Kathy

ALL STAFF DAY

Thursday was our annual All Staff Day at work.  We all have to go to the main branch and spend all day in lectures and workshops.  Most everyone hates it.  It is very boring.  We would rather just be in our own branch doing our own job.  But it's one of those mandatory things that you just have to put up with.

 

I was pleasantly surprised that this year wasn't so bad.  I was so glad to see a lot of my friends that I worked with at other branches but haven't seen in a long time.

 

We started with breakfast.  I had a muffin and a couple of slices of cantaloupe.  I really wanted a bottle of water to drink but there was none.  So I got a cup of tea.

Then we went to the first series of lectures.  It was pretty interesting.  Several different groups told about different things happening at the library.  It lasted about an hour or so.  Then there was a break and we went to the first workshop.

Diane and I decided to stick together the whole day and take the same workshops.  There were about 20 different choices.  We chose Cooking for a Healthy Heart.  It was pretty interesting.  Mostly we learned about how to read ingredient labels and what the different terms meant.  Some things I knew, but a lot I didn't so I did learn something.

Next came lunch.  I was supposed to get a dairy free meal but they forgot to get one for me.  I saw the list and there was one other person and me for dairy free.  But the lady behind the table said they had never shown up.  So she gave me a gluten free lunch because it had no dairy in it.  Well, folks, I don't mean to criticize a free lunch, but it was pretty bad.  The roll of the sandwich was nice, but there was turkey which was so dry I had trouble eating it and a slice of tomato.  There was also a bag of chips and an apple.  I can't eat raw apples and really didn't want the chips.  So after eating half of the sandwich, I just gave up.  

There were so many people there and not enough tables so Diane and I sat on the steps with my boss and ate. We watched the library band which was so loud you couldn't hear yourself think (but they were good!) and then the line dancing.  Everyone was invited to join in, but I wasn't going out there.  This year's video isn't up on youtube yet, but here's last year's.  You can get the idea.  Again, it was very entertaining.

There was also a talent show going on in the auditorium.  We peeked in on that, but didn't really stay.

Next it was time to go to our second workshop.  We didn't know what to take and went back and forth on which one to go to.  We had sat down at a table in one of the rooms on the first floor and we were so tired we decided to just stay there for the Conflict Resolution workshop.  I'm glad we did because it was really good, interesting and fun.  We even got to talk with the presenter afterwards for awhile and he gave us his personal take on some things.

Finally we went to the last lecture by our President Shiobhan Reardon who was recently named Librarian of the Year by the National Library Association.



She told us about all the new things coming up, the renovations, the new hires, etc.  There was a question and answer session afterwards and then we could go home.

Fortunately we just missed rush hour.  It was starting, but we made it with just a little bit of a delay.  I hate sitting on I-95 for an hour when it's only a 15 minute drive otherwise.

So even though I wasn't looking forward to the day, it wasn't all that bad.  I did love seeing all my friends.  That was the best part.  I am thinking that this will be my last one since I am expecting to retire before April next year, but who knows?  No one knows the future.

Kathy 

FIRST SATURDAY BACK

HAPPY SATURDAY!

41 days until Halloween
68 days until Thanksgiving Day
96 days until Christmas Day
103 days until New Years Day

This was the first Saturday of the fall/winter/spring season of work.  We will be open every Saturday now until next June.  And after today I'm thinking I would like to be home every Saturday.

The library assistant supervisor and the guard from Fishtown were at our branch today.  Just as we go to Fishtown Branch on Fridays, they come to us on Saturday.  I was late getting there because I had to go to the bank, so they were very surprised to see me.  They didn't expect me to show up.  The guard and I do not get along.  And that is putting it mildly.  She was so angry that I was there.  I just didn't talk to her all day, avoided her as much as possible, and we got along fine.  I just keep remembering the verse in Romans 12:18 that says: If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.  So I did.

I got a lot of work done today.  It's good to have a day to catch up.

This afternoon there was a huge fight in the library.  I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I do know it involved a group of girls bullying another girl, her saying she wished she were dead, and a couple of mothers punching each other.  People!

After work Diane had to go to Home Depot and since it is on the way home, I drove her.  I was almost home when I got a phone call from Joe.  He said that Diane had just called him and said she had left her keys in work.  Could I take her back?  I called her and told her to wait for me, got Joe to go with me, and headed back to Home Depot.  Sure enough, there she was.  We went back to work, she went in, got her keys, and then I drove her home.  What a time!  But at least it all ended well.

On the way home we stopped at Rite Aid for Joe to buy a few things.  When we came out there was an old Ford in the parking lot and people were taking pictures of it.  We walked over to see it.  It was an 1919 Ford.  The owner spoke to us for a few minutes and let me take pictures.  I haven't downloaded them yet, so I will show them to you for this week's Friday View.  It was really cool and put a nice end to the day.

I'm heading to bed now.  It's going to be a long day tomorrow.  Lots to do.  Good night everyone.

 Kathy
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Weather for Saturday, September 20
Partly cloudy
High:  80 degrees
Low:  67 degrees
(Nice day!)
Sunrise:  6:46 a.m.
Sunset:  7:01 p.m.
12 hours and 15 minutes of daylight   

WORK

Can you believe it?

Are you ever curious about what I look like while I'm at work?  Well wonder no more.  Diane took a picture of me waiting on a customer the other day.  Here I am.

Don't I look professional?  Oh, if they only knew.  Ha, ha.  I really do enjoy my job.  It's just some of the kids and all my aches and pains.

How about Bob?  Diane took one of him working too.  Ignore our messy workroom please.

Last Wednesday Liz was out so Jerry did the preschool storytime.  He did a good job too!

That was a nice day unlike the last two days.  My theory is that the kids are bored.  They run around the building, scream, yell, insult people, destroy property, etc.  These are not babies but young teens.  Today three of them broke into our outside air conditioning system.  When they were caught they each blamed the other.  Of course.

There were a group of kids at the videos today.  I was in the workroom and looked out because of the noise.  There were a couple of girls climbing the shelves to get to those on top.  If they had slipped, they would have been seriously hurt.  I told them to get off and the one girl said she was too short to reach the top shelf.  I told her one of her taller friends could do it.  Then one of the boys grabbed the video of "Son of God" and said his name was Jesus and he was the Son of God.  I told him he needed to be careful what he said.  I asked if he went to church and he said "sometimes".  I told him I attended a super church and would be glad to pick him up and take him home on Sunday.  He, of course, said no.  One of the girls asked me what church it was and when I told her said she had never heard of it.  The boy said he didn't have to go to church because he WAS the church.  He repeated that he was Jesus and could do miracles.  I said I would pray for him and he said I should be praying TO him.

I tell you this story so that you can pray for him along with me.  Of course he was just showing off for his friends and trying to get a rise out of me, but wouldn't it be awesome to see this kid saved?  I don't know his name, but God does and that's all that matters.

I am starting to fall asleep while I am typing this.  I am going to end and go to bed.  Tomorrow is another day.  *sigh*

Kathy