AB’s Bookshelf.

I’m not a big fan of reality. Let me escape into a good book or film anyday as opposed to having to interact in the real world. But alas as I have started my two new jobs over the past two weeks, I have gotten a big fat dose of the medicine called reality. Therefore, I decided that this edition of the kiddo’s bookshelf should include some big helpings of healthy imagination.

1. Adventure Annie Goes to Work written by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by Amy Wummer:  Saturdays are Annie’s day for adventures. She’s even got the perfect outfit complete with advernture cape and sparkle tights. But when Adventure Annie’s mom has to go into work to find an important report that has been misplaced, Adventure Annie finds herself on a Big Report Treasure Hunt. Annie makes a humongous mess, but finds the missing  gold report. “Adventure Annie to the Rescue!” Bringing your kid to the office is inevitable. Your kiddo will be sick but you have to hand something in or child care falls through or as in Annie’s mother’s case, you were the last one to handle something of importance. And offices are always way more interesting when you’re a kid, even if it’s boring. A kid can turn the most mundane setting and make it magical. Case in point: Annie does not want to sit at the desk and draw at her mom’s desk, she wants to go on a treasure hunt which requires her to get into stuff including supply closets and other people’s offices. Sure when you bring your kid to work, you get your work done, but you also spend the same amount of effort cleaning up after them. Oh, the joys of working parenthood.
2. When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat written by Muriel Harris Weinstein and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie: It is hard to find children’s books for the preschool crowd that serve as introductions to various subjects. Most of the ones that I come up are too wordy. AB’s attention per page is quite short, but I want to expose her to various things that will lead to our fun discussions. So I am always on the lookout. This book was perfect. A little girl is visited in her dreams by Louis Armstrong who teaches her to scat by singing about bubble gum. It is goofy and fun. There were many giggles over our imitations of Louis Armstrong gravel and our own attempts at scat. Then we danced around to his classic duet with Ella, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”.
3. Blueberry Girl written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Charles Vess: Neil Gaiman is prolific and splendiferous (and I am still bitter that we were left empty-handed when his Lit Fest event this weekend sold out with a quickness) . He wrote Blueberry Girl for Tori Amos when she was pregnant with her daughter Tash, which I found super sweet and it made the book even more endearing. Read this book, with great illustrations by Mr. Vess, with  “Ribbons Undone” from Tori’s The Beekeeper album on repeat softly in the background and have a little mother-daughter cuddle time. Blueberry Girl and Someday byAlison McGhee are two books that should help ensure that creepy Love You Forever is banished from bookshelves and baby showers everywhere.
4. Once Upon A Saturday by Leslie Lammle: Ah, those dreaded Saturday chores.  June uses her imagination to tackle the tasks that stand between her and  wild animals, lost treasure and learning how to fly.  She finds an alligator (or is it a crocodile?) in her oatmeal. A crow teaches her how to fly to the mailbox. She gets a helping hand from the wind while sweeping leaves from the porch steps. Last but not least, she drives out the monsters living under her bed. She accomplishes all of this wearing an adorable pink dress and pilot goggles. A-dor-a-ble. Ms. Lammle is one of those double threats who can write a great story and do kick-ass illustrations. The illustrations were just plain awesome.  I would love to get prints of some and to frame and put in AB’s room. A nice reminder that chores can be really fun if you just use your imagination. Hey, I still pretend that I’m playing “house” when I wash the dishes, cook dinner and other domestic activities.  A spoonful of sugar…

Happy reading!

Perfect Job.

I just sent off my cover letter and resume for the perfect job. The perfect job that fits my skills and interests. The perject job that would be the perfect segue into children’s publishing. The holy grail of jobs.

My heart stopped when I saw this perfect job listing. I refreshed my browser a few times to ensure that it was not a figment of my imagination. My hands began to shake as I wrote the most passionate cover letter I have ever written knowing that Perfect Job was made for me.

Now I feel like a girl waiting on the phone to ring with that really cute guy at the end that you knew you were going to marry (or date for at least a year) the moment you saw him. Of course Perfect Job did not even know I existed until a few moments ago and of course I will continue looking and applying elsewhere, but that does not meant that I will not obsess over every minute detail of what Perfect Job is thinking about as it compares me to the other candidates.

But alas I am encouraged. I applied to a good number of jobs this morning that I feel would be good fits. Jobs that I would feel good about going to every single day (which is such a Me Generation concept.)

However, Perfect Job still takes the cake. I know we could be so happy together.

The End.

My first year of law school has come to an end. We survived. When I came home after my first final yesterday, I felt the tears sting my eyes before I had even placed the key in the lock. They were tears fear and worry and…just plain exhaustion. I crawled to the finish line with bruised knees, bloody knuckles and a battered brain while AB bounded across a happy carefree well-adjusted preschooler.

Now what?

I have absolutely no idea. I have zero motivation. Well, I do have an iota of motivation. Rent for the apartment and tuition for AB. And let us not forget food, phone and internet. But aside from that I have no desire to work.

So I have decided to take a day or two. Decompress from one of the hardest years of my life and figure out what I really want to do with this life. Right now. 1 year…5 years…10 years from now.

It’s reevaluation time, folks.

Yay!….and Nay.

Yay!: Today is the culmination of two months of planning and coordinating.  Read for the Record is an event to raise awareness of the importance early childhood education through the largest shared reading experience across the country. They are attempting the break the world record that they set last year, and I am sure that they surpass it many times over.

Nay.: Now I must vent. I have been handling my AmeriCorps work remotely due to law school. Since I am not there this year, my counterpart at the library is doing the groundwork for me.  She left me a voicemail yesterday asking me to resend the forms that I had previously sent to one of the sites, along with some clarification on the process because the site coordinator was a bit confused.  So I did as she had requested but forgot to cc her. This morning I sent a great pep email to everyone wishing them luck with their events and thanking them. Yet when I get out of class, I see that she has resent the forms to all of the site participating.  However, she forgot to attach them leading the the subsequent “Oops forgot the attachments” email. Now in both of the emails, she included an email that I had sent to just one site regarding information to their specific site. In addition she failed to attach a generic sign-in sheet. I had sent everyone individual ones tailored to their site and I am hoping against hope that they are not confused by and think that the do not need the sign-in sheet because it is one of the most important pieces. I understand why she did it, but I found it unbelieveably sloppy and unprofessional. I have no problem with her resending the forms, but she could have taken to minutes to reformat the e-mail and make sure that the necessary components, that she was so worried that people were missing, were included.  I sent her an email explaining that I had already resent the form to the person who really needed it but it couldn’t hurt for everyone to have it again. *sigh*

Back to studying I go.

Free.

Friday was my last day at my job that I have had for the past two years.  It was made even sweeter by the fact that my (former) boss was out of the office. I feel that a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

It was very refreshing to wake up without the sense of dread. I awoke without an alarm clock and prepare my coffee and read leisurely.  The kid got an extra hour of sleep and woke up in a great mood. All around happy morning. Now I understand that part of this is psychological.  I was obviously unhappy with my job therefore I was letting that unhappy feeling permeate the rest of my life. But no more.

I have been itching to get out of my own again. I am ready to stand on my own. For months, I have been daydreaming and planning about the life that I plan to create for AB and I once we get to Chicago. Any limitations in the future will be those that I have placed on myself.  I am free.

Enough.

This evening as my boss called me not once, but twice in my off-time to complain about accounting “errors”.  He is going through a divorce right now, hence his need for an accurate report of his financials.  However, his stress about made me extremely stressed and pissed off.

I recieved the first call at my second job where he proceeded to take an hour of my time.  It was not until 45 minutes into the conversation however, that he inquired about whether I had anything more pressing to attend to. On numerous occasions I have let him know of my volunteer work, which I consider my second “job” due to the amount of hours I spend there and the stipend I receive, but he still manages to conviniently forget. I realize that this is due to his selfishness and complete lack of interest in anything I do outside of the office.  I’m surprised he even manages to remember my daughter’s name. Now, if I had taken a hour long call from my supervisor at the library during my time at his office he would have had a fit.

After the second phone call, I cried tears of frustration. I am completely drained and exhausted.  I have been working for this difficult personality for the past two years and I am so done with him and his demands.  Since I have been working with him six assistants have come and gone.  Apparently his track record was crap before me also.  During my first week, the receptionist warned me that he didn’t keep employees very long.  That’s something every employee wants to hear about their new boss, right?

I have 12 more days and then I will be free.  I will answer no phone calls and no e-mails pertaining to this office. I have done the best that I could in the time I have worked for him and prepared him for my departure the best that I could.

And that is enough.