This week at the library; or, complaints and digressions

This was a very Alexanderish Monday. My internet at home is down and I spent almost an hour on the phone only to be told that everyone's internet is down (why couldn't they just put that on the hold message? srsly?) and my car ran out of window washer fluid (it's hard to fill up. trust me) and I DAMAGED A BOOK!! A library book! I'm in shock. And the copier went down, and my computer at work is soooooo slooooooow I can't even back it up and it takes forever to do anything and....

• So, for my first tween favorites book club, I had one attendee. But this is very good! It was E, a girl who (along with the family who picks her up after school) has been coming to my family storytimes for over a year. She's getting a little old for this though, as she's almost 9, so I am very happy to see her "transition". This is what I want to encourage kids - and parents to do. Not stop coming to the library after they turn 3 and show up again when they're 65 for computer classes, as my colleague complained (-:). Plus, E's mom is a 3rd grade teacher and I gave her some brochures for her class. E and I chatted about books she had read (Junie B. Jones, Ellie McDoodle, Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and Clementine) and I showed her some of the new stuff that just came in - she and her mom took our newest Lunch Lady and Rapunzel's Revenge. We also tested my crayon melting project for next week, which was good b/c I had somehow completely overlooked the fact that the easiest way to shave crayons is with a pencil sharpener....

Tuesday

• This is turning out to be a very Alexanderish week. If catch those dratted boys who turned the computer screen upside down....

Wednesday

• Started with a visit to the dentist. See what I mean?
• Had our first Wednesday Gaming - Strategy Games this week! I had originally ordered a Risk and Castle Panic, only Castle Panic went out of stock as soon as I placed my order and Risk doesn't work well for a small group of mixed ages. So, on a Walmart trip to get misc. needed craft supplies, I got Parcheesi (hey, it's a classic!) and Stratego, which looked like a more interesting version of chess. We had 3 middle school/high school boys. They're our regular Wii players. They played Parcheesi for about an hour; I had to show them how to do it though! They don't make the classic game anymore, only a cheap version with corny plastic pieces. A younger boy came in later and joined in. My oldest attendee was interested in trying the Stratego (he's a chess player) but the other boys went off to use the computer and go home, so maybe we'll start with that one next time.

Thursday

• Lots of drama and stuff today, as our booksale started and we had some....patron issues.

Friday

• I am sure Miss Pattie had lots of attendees at toddler storytime....
• She also covered preschool storytime for me, since I was in Boston! Somehow people mysteriously know when she's coming and she gets big crowds. Or, possibly, she just talks the toddlers into staying....

ALA Midwinter and I finally get to go to Boston!

• Thursday night I had, of course, obsessive punctuality jitters. I only fly about every three years, and I'm always worried about being late, or taking the wrong thing, or....sigh. If I wasn't constrained by time, I'd definitely go Greyhound always. No worries, if you miss your bus you take the next one, no security worries....
• Friday morning I got up at 4:45, drank some milk, took a last forlorn look at the map, and took off. Besides my penchant for getting lost anywhere, anytime, regardless of how often I've been to a place before (and I've never been to the Milwaukee airport) I also have execrable night vision, so driving in the dark involves a white-knuckled grip on the wheel and a continuous stream of muttered prayers and multiple minor corrections as I try to follow the dimly glimpsed road.
• The Milwaukee Airport turned out to have really good signs and I made it without getting lost once! I even found the super saver parking!
• My ALA adventures coming soon!