Yes, I'm a Children's Librarian

Hello!

I haven't highlighted my work escapades in a while, and since it was my turn in the rotation to cover the main library's children's desk this past Sunday, let's talk about it.

Indeed, I worked. On a Sunday. On Valentine's Day. At the library.

I'm willing to bet some of you never suspected librarians work on Sundays. Well, I'm here to tell you some of us do.

At my library, the main branch is opened 1-5 p.m. on Sundays, starting after Labor Day through Memorial Day. (Can I get an AMEN for no summer Sundays?!!) There are 12 of us in the children's department, and we rotate through. Lately the teens have been coming in full force, and since their hangout area is separate from the children's, two of us are manning the desks instead of only one. This is so nice. One more of us to answer questions, keep an eye on things, and to not feel so lonesome during those four hours.

This past Sunday I worked with the teen librarian, Sarah. I love Sarah. Sarah was not feeling well at all. Poor Sarah. Thankfully, she was able to relax a little since there was nobody in her area. There was nobody in my area. Because it was Valentine's Day. Monday was President's Day. There was a snow storm coming. Normally this would have been a very, very long four hours. However, Sarah kept me company, and we chatted about home life, work life, upcoming programs and conferences, and yes, SUMMER READING! It will be here before you know it, y'all. (I am stoked for this year's theme!)

This particular Sunday was dead. Sloooow. I didn't see a single child or parent in my area until after 2 p.m. Maybe two other families the remainder of the day... one asked about a library card, the other helped their kids on the early literacy computers for about half an hour.

This allowed me plenty of time to get ahead on some upcoming programs. I peeled crayons. I peeled more crayons. Next Tuesday I'm having a Crayon Love Bake program for school-aged kiddos. We take old peeled crayons, break them up, place them in silicone molds, and bake them in the oven, re-purposing them into new crayons. I have snowmen and heart molds for this one. I did this program four years ago around Christmas and I had a bunch of boys. Who would have thought? It takes between 20-30 minutes for the crayons to melt, depending on their thickness, and the boys were bored out of their mind while they waited. And they got into trouble. This time I have a few library scavenger hunts planned and a snack to keep the kids entertained.

Other things I did on Sunday ---> read through a few new books, searched Amazon for some yoga tools/equipment for future programs, perused Pinterest for craft ideas, jotted down summer reading program ideas, and peeled more crayons.

This was a complete turn around from the last Sunday I worked back in January. There were so many kids and families and questions, I didn't get any actual work done. I had a bunch of kids asking for biographies because there was an assignment due that week. Someone was always at the computers, all working on homework, except one child playing games. The printer was in constant use. I had quite a few parents in looking for chapter books and popular series for their children. There was screaming, a few arguments over the computer, and one child kept dumping out all the crayons. Puzzles were out, displayed books were either gone or askew, and of course there were hardly any winter or hibernation books left on the shelf for the one teacher who came in looking for them because all of the other teachers had them. It's nice to see people of all ages still wait to the last minute.

On that Sunday I worked with Nicole, and she was just as busy in the teen center. I was hoping to chat with her a bit, but I only saw her once the entire four hours... when she ran over to the children's department to sharpen a handful of pencils. Thank goodness we had two people that day!

Thus, when you work a Sunday downtown, you never know what covering the desk will bring. I always make sure I bring work to do and a sweater.

And caffeine.


With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

My Beautiful Month

In case you aren't on Instagram, or don't follow me, here's a peek at my Insta-Life lately.
[*All photos are taken from my Instagram account.]

While Christmas shopping, we found a humane shelter giving tree and bought a bunch of gifts for the little guy, Mr. Zub. A new tradition started!

Mr. B, these CAVS seats are excellent!

My first finished adult coloring page. It's so PRETTY!

Book Club + Hot Chocolate Bar = Good Times

FAREWELL, 2015!

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

My Beautiful Month

In case you aren't on Instagram, or don't follow me, here's a peek at my Insta-Life lately.
[*All photos are taken from my Instagram account.]

Too many books and not enough time. True story.

'Tis the season for hot chocolate, and Starbucks puts crack in theirs. (Well, don't quote me on that, but it's sooo good. I'm sooo addicted.)

Magic Tree House madness at work.

Playing this on the radio?!?!?! Yesssssss!

Oh, I bought a new car. Meet Tara. Tara, this is everyone. (Bonus points if you know her namesake.)

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Lately

1. It's National Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day. Three cheers for that, I say! It's always fun at my job, and today my kiddos are making bunny masks for preschool story time. We're reading books, playing with puppets, practicing rabbit yoga poses, shaking eggs, and jumping and counting. All before noon, I might add. It's FUN. Yes, the library is a RIOT.

2. These past few days my afternoon treat has been a mason jar of iced coffee instead of an iced La Croix. Not sure why the switch; I guess my morning coffee isn't enough. I suspect it may have to do with my busy afternoons and coffee seems more filling than water when I can't grab a snack.

3. Who is ready for Spring Break? Hands waving over here!! I have dreams of sipping an iced beverage on my deck. Maybe weeding the garden. Praying for sunshine. Starting some spring cleaning. Possibly a day trip to who knows where. Ahhh, Spring Break. We get one of those in the adult world, right?

Wait. What?

4. Keith Urban and Eric Church. Love 'em. I'm hoping they perform their new song on the 19th at the ACM Awards. "Raise 'Em Up" is just perfectly wonderful. A beautiful song. The radio needs to play the heck out of this. ASAP.

5. I was super excited to see Brooke Boon featured in May's Yoga Journal. Actually, I squealed. Finally! I was so happy to see YJ highlighting various yoga practices that are available to yogis, like Holy Yoga. This practice is a combination of yoga and scripture, meditating on God's Word. And it's the way I've always practiced even before I was introduced to Holy Yoga last year. I get on my mat to relieve stress, to stay fit, to stretch my body, but mainly it's where I seek my Father. It's where I listen for that still, small voice. It's where I find peace and comfort. It's where I converse, relating my gratitude and fears.

"We practice with our minds set on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Phil 4:8), not with our minds emptied. We meditate on the wisdom of God's Word (Psalm 119:9-16, 26-27), not on man's wisdom. We seek the transcendence and glory of God, not our own." (holyyoga.net)

6. Mr. B and I are in desperate need of a date night. And by date night I mean dinner and a movie. By movie I mean an actual theater and not Netflix. I need this because there are so many movies I want to see right now and I don't want to wait. Like Do You Believe? and Insurgent and Furious 7 and Cinderella and do I need to remind you it's almost AVENGERS time?!?!

Has anyone seen any of these?

7. And BASEBALL. Mr. B's Sports Illustrated arrived in the mail predicting the Cleveland Indians will win the World Series this year. Am I dreaming?! You better not have just jinxed our season, SI!

I will hunt you down.

I know people.


With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

My Beautiful Month

In case you aren't on Instagram, or don't follow me, here's a peek at my Insta-Life lately.
[*All photos are taken from my Instagram account.]

Received my first Creative Scripture Card in the mail this month. I love the idea of swapping scripture with women all over the country. Such a fantastic idea! It's a great way to bring the word of God to others and to meet Jesus-loving ladies :) #cscswap

Making Mr. Darcy his birthday puppy ice cream. (aka ---> frozen bananas with peanut butter and plain Greek yogurt)

We have chickens!! SIX of them. And, yes, I named them all. However, I'm sure Mr. B will never remember. I'll share details in another post. Eeekkkk!

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Yes, I'm a Children's Librarian

Top o' the morning to ya.

I'm not quite sure why I greeted you in that manner. All I can say is the coffee is working.

Sooooo, here's what I did yesterday (Wednesday) in LIBRARY WORLD.

8:30-10:00 a.m. I had to get super organized right away. I'm in the midst of planning a huge Wizard of Oz interactive movie program (see glimpses of my Polar Express one here) and in great danger of losing my desk under all of the tissue paper, green poster boards, tin cans, and wigs. If I didn't act fast, I'd be one container of scissors and glue sticks short of a MESS. And that is not me. I am always organized. If not, I go crazy. If not, I will make you crazy.

Oh, and disclaimer. MAMA, yes I am doing this program. We don't have to talk about it. Feel free to continue reading. There are no visuals of the witch or of the flying monkeys.

Anyhoo, a crate quickly helped me dump my program materials into one bin which I can carry from desk to desk as needed. Phew.

10:00-12:15 p.m. While one of my co-workers was enjoying herself at the Ohio Library Northeast Conference, learning all kinds of new things she will rush back and share with the rest of us, I was called upon to cover her Time for Tots program. It's similar to my Toddler Tales, except where my age range is 19-35 months, hers is 2-3 1/2 years. Being I already had my week's toddler program planned, it was easy to adjust the layout and grab my stuff as I headed about 10 minutes down the road to her branch.

Her program starts at 11 a.m., and by 10:30 I had everything ready to go. She was kind enough to set up the room and I just added my stuff to the table. I did a mixture of her story time and a mixture of mine. The theme was dinosaurs, and I was happy to share a little longer book with a crowd that holds a tad longer attention span. I threw in some rhymes, finger plays, music time, and a puppet. Voila! Happy campers. They were even more thrilled when I brought out the parachute!!!! It was wonderful to see the pure joy of the faces of those kids because for some it was their first experience. My toddlers are spoiled and know I bring out the parachute every week. My co-worker does not. (Since I entertain a slightly younger crowd every Thursday, I like to keep them moving.)

Her [newer] branch has a tree in the children's department. It's awesome. It's okay; be jealous. I'm jealous.

I want that in my house.

12:15-12:45 p.m. I took my lunch break. However, on my way back to my branch I ran into Starbucks to pick up a treat for my supervisor and co-office-habitor, Amanda. It's a long story. Well, actually it's not. You know how Starbucks is featuring special Monday deals throughout March for their cardholder members? This past Monday was buy a beverage get a free pastry. Since I intended (I choose this word because I faltered a few times) on fasting sugar for Lent, I was giving my free treat to her. Problem #1: Amanda was off on Monday, so it sat in the fridge until her arrival on Tuesday. Problem #2: Due to a few other sweet treats on our back table courtesy of a wonderful patron, Amanda chose not to eat her cherry oat bar. She'd eat it on Wednesday when she got to work. Problem #3: She left work at 5 p.m. on Tuesday; I was there until 8 p.m. and I did not bring enough food to keep me satisfied. Problem #4: When I opened the fridge later on yesterday evening, I noticed her treat seemed smooshed in its bag. I am a great co-worker. I am an even better friend. I did not want her to eat anything less than perfect. I had also never had a cherry oat bar.

It was delicious.

After eating it, I texted her so. She cried. She laughed. Her emojis confirmed this. (Side note, I don't like the word emoji. It sounds like a disease. I was told recently my own name sounds like a disease. Interesting. Some people should really have filters.)

Anyhoo. I felt guilty.

That's why Wednesday found me back at Starbucks ordering two cherry oat bars.

12:45-5:00 p.m. The rest of the day had me busy with a number of things. I'd start one task and before I knew it I had three different things going on. It was a slow day at the library, and I took advantage of the quiet and planned my next few preschool story times, worked on craft ideas for next month's Crafty Kids (I'm keeping it spring themed), and figured out the purchases I need to make for my Wizard of Oz program. Oh, and skimmed a few new books, withdrew a few outdated non-fiction titles, and enjoyed a 20-minute break reading more of Mindy Kaling's memoir. It's this month's book club read.

Cheers!

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Library Displays 101

One of the new additions I've been meaning to share on Sweet B's this year is focused on my work as a Youth Services Librarian. As I laid out earlier in this post, it's been something I've really wanted to bring to my readers. I get asked, and often, about things I do daily, and I felt maybe I should share more than a look-in to my day every few months. Therefore, my plans are to give a more detailed insight to my programs, displays, bulletins. school-visits, and any other adventures I may be up to. For now, I'd like to bring on these posts once a month and then eventually once a week.

But, of course, I must start from the beginning. (It's my OCD way.) Since that was almost three years ago, I have quite the catching up to do. Yet, before I delve into weekly programs and past Summer Reading plans, I'd like to kick off this series with a glance back at my first few displays at the library.

At my branch location, there is a small glass display case which sits by the front desk, but faces the children's department. Hence, it's the Youth Services (YS) staff's responsibility to make sure it's never bare. My department's assistant manager shares my office, and while she is more focused on the teen area, we share this display case responsibility. Sometimes we rotate. Sometimes we see if the other had plans for the next month or season. We try to change it up every two months, correlating with the weather, season, up-coming program, holiday, community, school assignment, or a popular form of entertainment going on in library world.

This was one of my first Halloween displays. Using our AccuCut Dies, I created the background title, "Lose Your Head In a Good Book." I then filled the case with books whose covers feature headless people, whether half missing, fading, or gone completely. Also, I added a few Halloween decor items, like the Frankenstein treat bag and some pumpkins (also using the AccuCut). Patrons could check out the books and we'd continue to fill in any empty spots daily. This display ran from the end of September through the week of Halloween. Something simple the tweens really enjoyed.

Below is my "Green Spring" display, perfect for, you guessed it, SPRING! Using various shades of green paper and animal AccuCuts, I was able to create my own decor which I taped to the sides of the case. I lined both shelves with different green-colored scrap book paper, and decorated the back by tacking up tissue paper at various angles. I added some colorful Easter eggs and a green pickup truck that had landed on my desk a few weeks ago, yet no child claimed. The final touches were picture books with predominately green covers. VOILA! SPRING. This was on display March through the end of April.

*A side note: at my library, whenever books are displayed in the case, on shelves, etc., I go into our catalog and change the title from "on shelf" to "DISPLAY." That way, in case a patron is looking for that particular book, we're not running around looking through the stacks because it's not on the shelf where it should be. We know where to look.

This last display ran during the month of August and was a back-to-school theme. (The first picture in this post is a side view look at this same display.) During the summer, I had a few puzzle picture books donated to the children's department. They were in great condition, probably brand new. Instead of putting them in the book sale, I decided to run a contest and used the books as the prize. Again, using the alphabet AccuCuts I created the "Back-to-School Jungle" title (since the puzzle book featured animals of the jungle habitat) and some jungle-themed bulletin board boarder to frame it. We have this really neat alligator visor AccuCut, so I cut out two and hung them from the first shelf, and taped a few animal AccuCuts to the shelves. I found a big parrot in the bulletin board jungle bag and taped it to the one side of the case (you can sort of see it in the first photo above). But for the bananas...I got creative. We have the regular visor AccuCut as well, so I just cut out a few pieces using yellow paper and stapled a few together, and there you have it. BANANAS.

For the contest, using Microsoft Publisher, I decorated a box (which I set on top of the display case), and I asked the kids "What is your favorite thing about going back to school?" I provided slips where the children could supply their information and answer. There were about two dozen entries and, of course, the most popular response was "seeing my friends again," along with a few "school clothes shopping," "recess," and one "English class because I like to read." (<--- that would have been my winner right there!) I asked one of the staff members to reach into the box and pull out a winner. That child received the displayed jungle puzzle book along with another surprise truck puzzle book.

There are many more display ideas to come, so stay on the look out.


For bulletin board inspiration, check out that crafty post over here.

**If this is of interest to you, or you work in a library, or you see something you like that may fit your library, classroom, party....feel free to borrow and use. It's why I love this profession. Why re-invent the wheel?! We're a friendly community with ideas to share galore. Feel free to adapt and/or share what you did or worked for you, and if you see something you really like. I welcome feedback.

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Yes, I'm a Children's Librarian

HOLY FRIJOLES! Yesterday was a tad crazy over here. And by over here, I mean at my library. And by crazy I mean me ---> overwhelmed, slightly panicked, rushed, exhausted.... let's just say I slept quite well. (Read: fell into bed and was dead to the world until well beyond my set alarm time.)

It was all POLAR EXPRESS over here and has been for the past month. So with that, let's dive into my nonstop day.

11:30-12:00 p.m. As soon as I arrived at work, 15 minutes early to be exact, I quickly checked email and voice mail (a family called to say they weren't going to make the evening's program) and then packaged my cookies. Being the baker and cookie maker that I am, I decided I'd make Grandma Barb's famous cut-outs as part of the BINGO prizes the kids could take home. I made the dough last Wednesday, cut the stars out and baked on Friday, and frosted the cookies Sunday night. Late Monday night, I had visions of packaging the cookies in individual festive bags along with a Santa napkin only to realize, once home, I left the napkins at work. So 11:30 found me packaging a whole bunch of cookies. At least Mr. B hadn't eaten them all.

12:00-2:15 p.m. For over two hours I wore quite the path between my office and the meeting room where the program was held. I brought up from the basement the Christmas tree and other decorations borrowed from previous programs to give the room a festive, North Pole feel. I decorated one of the doors to look like the train, as well as laid down some train tracks with duct tape. (By the way, I don't think I have any fingerprints left, and duct tape is very loud in a library.) Alas, as I began the second track rail, I ran out of duct tape. A quick phone call to a co-worker, who was coming over later to help with the program, and my tracks were put on hold. Onto setting out all of the chairs (which by the way, if all 20 kids brought 20 adults, we wouldn't have enough chairs anyway, nor the floor space).... ai yi yi.

2:15-4:00 p.m. By this time I realized I hadn't had anything more than a cup of coffee all day, and decided to scarf down a sandwich at my desk while printing out hot chocolate and North Pole signs. Once those were finished, I attached the reindeer food signs to the reindeer food bags, which contained rolled oats.

Realizing I bit off more than I could chew (being the overly-ambitious person that I am), I nixed the Pin-the-Nose-on-Rudolph game. I had a bunch of red noses and no Rudolph. I guess we'll play Tape-the-Nose-on-the-Child.  <--- the kiddos loved this, actually.

The last hour found me rummaging the basement for festive-looking baskets to hold all of the program materials, setting up the two other games I had ready, and organizing everything...making sure I had all I needed and what order it went.

Oh, and I was needed to help a patron find a play for her seventh grader. After a ten-minute search, resulting in nothing, she informed me the play was online and she could just print it off if I showed her how to work our computers.... 34 pages later I was back in Polar Express land. Thankfully, the library was quite slow.

4:00-5:30 p.m. My co-worker arrived! So, so, so grateful for her help. While I checked to make sure the movie and technology needed were working properly (that would have been a program-ruiner, for sure), she set to finishing up the train tracks. Afterwards, she hung up my lovely take-home Christmas countdown decor while I filled her in on the layout and order of things. I set out the bags, tickets, name tags, and BINGO cards. A half hour before the program began, my library's PR person arrived (to take pictures, of course,) and helped with making the hot chocolate and filling the popcorn bags. I needed all of the help. Definitely all hands on deck. A quick change into my pajamas and....

5:30-7:15 p.m. All Aboard! The Polar Express. It was program time. The program was open to all ages and family, but I had K-2nd kids mostly. Our small room packed in 21 kiddos, plus 18 adults and a few infants. Add in four library staff, strollers/carriers, and the already tight space, many of the dads decided to take the strollers/carriers and wait out the program in the actual library. Wise decision, guys.

Program highlights ---> the Rudolph noses, the golden ticket to enter, hot chocolate and marshmallows, and the surprise bell gifts at the end. But the BIGGEST hit of the night by far were the paper airplanes. And, boy, did those suckers fly! One was even stuck in the top window. I forgot about it completely; it may still be there. After about 10 minutes, I had to spoil the fun so they could continue with the rest of the program. Plus, Santa was about to show up on screen. We can't miss Santa.

7:15-8:00 p.m. Shall I say clean up? I forgot how messy popcorn and children are. Not to mention the one case of leaking hot chocolate, the two chewed gum pieces stuck to the floor, and the dozens of candy wrappers littered throughout. HOLY FRIJOLES. At least there were two sets of hands to clear the chaos.

Once the chairs were moved to the sides and wiped down (marshmallows are quite sticky, fyi), my co-worker grabbed the vacuum while I loaded everything leftover onto a cart and wheeled it to the back. (I'll think about it tomorrow. I can't think about it now. I'll go crazy if I do. <--- name that movie.) Afterwards, up came the tracks and (very delicately) down went the train. The tree will eventually be moved into the children's department; it was so nice of the children to decorate it for me ;)

Finally, my butt found a seat, a quarter 'til closing, where I promptly devoured the last bag of popcorn. My co-worker just smiled and said, "Now. Let's talk about our snow princesses program." And that's how we spent our last few minutes.... at least that's not until January. (And, by the way, her day was supposed to end at 7 p.m. So grateful she stayed to help clean up!)

And with that my [major] programming is done for the year. Onward.

Feel free to read my other Children's Librarian adventures here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi