I love my job...right?

I love my job...usually.

Last week I was frustrated.

I was stressed because in the last pay period I worked 4 out of 10 days.

My lead teacher can be pompous and often doesn't let me take the lead even when I request it. Sometimes she talks down to me. Often she doesn't listen to my ideas, or takes them over as her own.

Hours are being cut, I'm working part time, and while we're cutting costs as often as we can, going from part time to full time has been a difficult transition.

The kids are driving me crazy, pushing their limits, testing us, and generally being rambunctious.

I've been wondering if I should be looking for another job, feeling like I'm not contributing enough to our family.

And then...something happened.

source

We've been working on Chinese dragons all throughout January for Chinese New Year. It was a big thing for me, because I have been the one spear-heading the whole craft. Although Chinese New Year was a couple weeks ago, we decided to have a "parade" with our dragons, especially because we had two little girls who celebrate in our class.

My lead teacher was leading the parade, and I was following up behind. She played a song on a little recorder, and (most of) the kids hummed or sang along. We paraded through the other classrooms, through the office, and back to our classroom. For a class of almost 30 kids, they were amazingly well behaved, and I was really proud of them.

To put the next part of the story into context, I need to tell you about Michael*. Michael is younger than the other kids, and he's a complete handful. He doesn't listen, he's always in his own world, and though he's adorable, he couldn't sit still if his life depended on it.
So there I am, at the end of the line with Michael, who is being surprisingly well behaved. I was so proud of him because lines are definitely not his strong point. Anyway, he leaned over and gave me a side hug and said, in his little voice, "thank you for doing the dragons".

Suddenly all those frustrations melted away, and I saw my job for what it really is. Introducing those kids to another culture and seeing them actually get it, was wonderful. If no one else appreciates what I do, they do, and that made it all worthwhile.

All the cut hours, the frustrations, the glitter...it suddenly disappeared, because Michael appreciated what I was doing, and he even walked in line properly.

I guess sometimes I need a little reminder of who I actually work for.

*Name has been changed to protect the adorable.

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I'm happy...is that so difficult to accept?

I started a new job just before Thanksgiving. It is a completely different schedule from the office job, I'm on my feet all day, it's part time and a split shift. I love it.
For the first time in a year, I can tell people that I have a masters. I hated hiding that fact, and it feels so freeing to be able to say it out loud.

The only problem with my new position? It's not in a library. It is, however, working with kids. More specifically, it's a before and after school "school-aged" (meaning, K-5th) child care program. I love it. For the first time in a year I can actually say that I love my job.

So why do people ask me how long I'm going to work there? Why do they keep offering suggestions as to how I can get a library position? Why do they assume I'll leave as soon as the library job pool unfreezes?
Why is it so difficult for someone to understand that just because I'm not in a library, I can still love my job?

My focus when I was in school was on children's and young adult librarianship. I'd love to work with teens, but I would also love to work with kids. I have always enjoyed working with kids. If my options are working in a library or working with kids, then I want to work with kids. If I can't have both, I'd rather have the kids.

The age group I'm working with is kindergarten and first grade. Oh how I love this age! They are wild and rowdy, and just downright adorable! They are always learning, and it's so fun to see their minds at work as we do crafts, or even just play. The other day I read one of my favorite books, Make Way for Ducklings to them.

Do I need a Masters in Library and Information Science to work there? No...but it helped me get the job. The truth is, I love my job, and I'm tired of everyone trying to give me options to get into a library. I'd take my part-time, downright exhausting, wonderful job over any other job that isn't working with kids, but is in a library. I'm not a medical librarian. I'm not a technical librarian, or a law librarian, or a college librarian. I'm a children's librarian who wants nothing more than to work with kids, and who has finally found that job. After 2 years of waiting, I'm finally working with the population I love.

Why can't people just accept that?

Funny how things work out....

My 1 year anniversary at my job is today. This past Saturday, I gave my notice. I start a new job in a week.

The work environment at my current job is less than ideal. Aside from the fact that I don't want to be an office assistant or dispatcher for the rest of my life, the manager at the company is difficult to work with, to say the least. I won't get into it here, but suffice it to say, I'm happy to be moving on.

I was never thrilled with the job from the beginning. Don't get me wrong, I was more than grateful to have a job. It came at a time when we really needed a second income. We had just bought a house, and though we knew we could make the payments and pay the rest of the bills on one income, we were grateful for a second income. I thank God every day that I have a job, even if I don't enjoy it, because there are so many out there who don't have anything.

That said, I don't enjoy my job. I'm miserable and it's affecting me and wearing on me. After thanking God for my job, I continually questioned him about why I was still here. Why he was keeping me in a place that clearly was no good for me. I knew He had a plan, I just wanted it to come sooner than He planned.

It's funny how things work out, though. We are traveling for Thanksgiving, but that is easily canceled if I happen to have to work that week. I was devastated when we realize that, financially, we couldn't go home for Christmas. Had we done that, we'd possibly had non-refundable plane tickets that cost an arm and a leg and the possibility that I wouldn't have been able to get time off at my new job.
We are saving $500 a month for our Hawaii trip in February. We reach our goal as of January 1, December being the last payment into savings. Had I gotten this job 6 months ago, it would have been difficult for us to save such large payments because this job is part time.

So, starting next Monday I will be working at a YMCA, in a before and after school childcare program. Considering I want to work with children and/or young adults, this is the best I can hope for, now. I'm excited, and happy, and thrilled to be loving my job. I will always keep my ear to the ground for library positions, but the Y is a great organization to work for, and they promote from within, so I don't know where this will lead.

One thing I do know? God is in charge. He's proven that to me time and again, and this recent change no exception.

What AM I doing??

I have had several comments asking what I'm going to be doing at work ever since I announced that I have accepted a job. I haven't intentionally left you all in the dark by keeping it a secret, the truth is I had very little knowledge of what I would be doing before my first day on Monday! Now that it's been a few days, however, I am a little more aware of what is going on here. Think of this post as a Public Service Announcement.

I am working for a company that provides rides to people with disabilities. The clients are often getting rides to doctor's appointments, the grocery store, the bank or other things like dialysis. My job will be to direct the drivers (dispatch), make up the driver schedule, enter data like invoices and gas receipts, basic office jobs like that.

It isn't glamorous, and it's far from what I want to do for the rest of my life, but for now, I'm enjoying it. A job gets me out of the house and it's a small office, with one woman that I work with directly here, a few owners of the company that come and go and the drivers, of course. I love that it is relaxed and family friendly. On Monday I heard my manager working with a driver to arrange daycare for her daughter. L (my manager) was so accommodating to the driver that I was touched. I think I will really enjoy working here, once I actually know and understand everything that's going on. For now I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and am trying to adjust to a new schedule, but I'm happy and eager to see where this job takes me in the future.

So there you have it, the answer to your burning question of what the heck is my job and what am I doing??

I have a job...

...but before you get too excited, I need to say that it's neither full-time nor library-related. It is, however, kid-related, which is at least close to what I want to do.
I'm going to be watching 4-5 kids a few days a week, for an hour or so at a time, while their daycare provider drives two other kids to school.
I really struggled with whether or not I wanted to take this job. I found it on Craigslist, and with my babysitting and nannying experience was pretty sure I would be offered it, and I was not disappointed. However, I struggled because it's a one year commitment, and she would like me to commit to the end of next school year, in June. I said I would, but in the back of my mind I worry that I've just committed myself to another year of non-library related employment. For $50 a week.
I keep telling myself that this isn't the case. The woman I'll be working for is very nice and understanding, I'm sure if I was able to get a full-time job that wouldn't allow me to continue to come in the afternoons and mornings (the afternoons are really my biggest concern, but even then it's only an hour and it's only 3 days a week), that we could work something out. And, chances are, since I only JUST started to interview to get into the King County Library employment pool, I won't even be getting a real library job until next year anyway.
I wonder sometimes if this is what the next year or two of my life will be like. Will I work a part time job here and there, taking what I can get as long as it's children, teen or book-related in some way? Financially Geoff and I are perfectly fine without me working, however there are things we want, things we would like to save up for that could happen much faster if I had a real job. Things like a house, or, on the short-term, living room furniture that didn't come from Target or Freecycle. It also frustrates me not to be working, not to have my own money to spend, because for the first time in 10 years, I don't have an income all my own.
It was thoughts like this that led me to looking on Craigslist for babysitting jobs. Part-time, here and there, whatever. Even if it is only a little extra money, it's extra money towards something we want but can't have right now.
I do have a lead on another, slightly more interesting job, but since interviews haven't even started yet, I can't elaborate. However, I am confident that I will be offered the position, and even though that too is part time and temporary, I think it will help me much more in getting where I want to eventually work.
This new babysitting job will be good for me, I think. It will get me up and out of the house in the morning (I have to be there by 8:30 and it's about 20 minutes away) and it gets me out of the house. Which is a little amusing, because that is exactly why this woman took on a second job of driving a couple kids to school, because it gets her out of the house! Right now, that is the most important thing I can do, get out.
So it's not library-related. I certainly don't need a masters, or even any type of degree to do it. But it's a job, it keeps me busy and it allows me to contribute (monetarily) to our little family. And for my life right now, that is what is important to me.