These are a few of my favorite things: to-do lists

There's one week until school starts and I am already a little overwhelmed. 

But I brought this upon myself so I shouldn't complain...too much. 

However, I do have something that keeps me in line: to-do lists. They are INCREDIBLE. You can find my to-do lists scattered across my apartment, hung up on my walls (especially the super successful ones), and in whatever bag I am carrying around with me that day. 

The to-do list front and center (and it even has things checked off).

The to-do list front and center (and it even has things checked off).

I'm usually a write a giant list (complete with easy ones, like clean dishes, take a shower, send an email) to keep the momentum going. There's something so incredibly satisfactory about crossing something off a list. In times of dire stress, I will sometimes do the reserve to-do list, which turns into a "I accomplished this thing" list, which is helpful when you have so much to do, it's overwhelming to write it all down in one fell swoop. 

The funny thing is that I rarely finish a to-do list. By the time I'm down to the bottom scraps of a list, I've already begun a new one, bringing over the old stuff I hadn't gotten to yet. A never-ending cycle of things to keep me busy.

Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

And with that, I cross another thing off my current list.  

Building a community, one lunch at a time

So I'm in the middle of preparing two libraries for the school year. They are residence hall libraries, allowing them to be this amazing mix of popular (and current) fiction and nonfiction, the newest movies, TV shows, CDs, and magazines. We also have some great resources, like GRE study books and special collections for our various living learning communities. 

As I frantically organized, clean, and prepare, I'm faced with the (somewhat daunting) task of serving the students that live in these halls. As someone who went to a small liberal arts college, the sheer size of the these residence halls intimidates me. 

So. Many. Students.

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Let Camp Clover BEGIN!

So I've spent a large majority of my work time since May helping to plan a week long digital literacy camp. Now the week is here and it's GO TIME.

Gahhh. Anxious, per usual. You know, that feeling that you want everything to go well, that you've done everything in your control to get ready, and now you just have to wait. You can't imagine what the kids will be like or what they will like to do. That you will just have to do on the fly. So I'm sitting here in Peoria, running through the lesson plans, practicing how I might introduce myself, trying to anticipate every thing that could go right (or wrong). 

I should probably go read a book and go to bed...early. 

But I'm excited. This is something we've spent a lot of time on and it will be great to see how it all turns out. Follow me here for daily updates on the Community Explorers (8-12 year olds) and then over at the YALSA blog for daily teen camp reflections. Should be a digital literacy, blogging, and fun-filled week!