Okay, so, it has REAAAAALLLLLYYYY been a long time since I have blogged.  Call it Covid fog brain.  Call it procrastination.  Call it being too busy, or lack of priorities.  All I know is that today I felt compelled to blog, again!  So, here it goes. 

Today is "Dress for Success" day, and everyone was supposed to dress up in their best business wear.  And I totally blanked out.  Here I sit, in my nice tshirt, casual green jacket, and khaki pants.  Even tennis shoes.  So totally not dressed for success.  However, I began to think about this as I was taking on a well deserved snack break.  

I am eating my store brand (yes, I'm that cheap) cereal with marshmallow bits in it.  And I began to reflect how both the plain jane cereal and the marshmallow bits need one another.  If you have all of one, it's nice for a moment, but then it's just too much.  Either too sweet.  Or too grainy.  But together, they make a mighty fine breakfast cereal.  The proportions are just right.  

So as I looked out in the hall to see those students who dressed up, today, and the ones who didn't, I am reminded that it takes all kinds.  We do need to practice dressing for the occasions, as well as using our voices (professional, casual, familial, etc. ) to fit the moment.  But in all of the mix, we are the perfect combination of sweet and grainy.  

Happity Monday, peeps!  May the week be filled with both!

Happy National Nut Day!!

Why in the world would this be important?  I have to admit that I was not aware, earlier, about the magnitude of the holiday that is National Nut Day, today.  Why is it important?  In the grand scheme of things, does it matter?  Who decides which days are holidays, and which days are not?  I wanted to know more.  But how did I come to this realization to begin with? 

My son, who is doing his Virtual Academy work from my office, today, made an interesting comment a few minutes ago.  He said to me, "National Throwing Short People Day is Oct. 24...", and eyeballed me.  I happen to be short.  I took this to be a challenge.  I will have to be on my toes on Saturday.  

So, my daughter began to look up all these innocuous holidays, like "Bleu Cheese", "Grains of Sand" and the ever popular, "Peking Duck" days.  There are, apparently so many days that are out.  Like "Big Whopper Liar" Day!  I am keenly interested. 

All this to day, what day is it for YOU?  What makes it special?  I say you don't have to have an identified holiday to make each day unique and awesome.  I'll end this blog post with the beginning...Happy National Nut Day!

Happity Wednesday, Silver Hawk peeps!

I have to admit, today, that the coffee jolt is not happening.  I wonder if I have hit that threshold where the caffeine can't overtake the fatigue.  Or maybe, there is just so much to do that the energy expended can't be buoyed buy the jolt in that coffee cup.  Another alternative is that perhaps I just brewed weak coffee. Maybe it's because it is Wednesday, and while we have finished some work from the beginning of the week, there is still more to do in order to round the rest of it off.  

Could be any of the above. 

Have you found yourself there, sometimes?  Just meandering around in Uncertainville, or Tiredville, in some surreal and dreamlike state?  I think that we can all say we've been there, and probably more than once.  We work hard, and trudge along, only to find that once we finish one task, another may be looming out there and we find we just feel a little bit overwhelmed.  Drained.  Just not kickin' it. 

The thing to remember is that this is okay!  It's our own body's way of saying we might need to stand up, take a walk, and give ourselves a break.  My daughter decided to bake this week, and that she would only use recipes that were from scratch.  It was a much needed brain break, for her.  What kind of thing can you do to give yourself a break?  It could be reading.  It could be taking a nap.  It could be spending time with a favorite pet, or sibling, or friend down the road.  An ice cold glass of water.  Anything.

Ultimately, we need to remember to be kind to ourselves, these strange and freakadelic days.  It's okay to step away for a moment.  Relax.  Breathe.  And for reals...just laugh.  Out loud, and with reckless abandon!  

Take care, peeps!  

Happity Friday, my Silver Hawk Peeps!  

I have to admit, it's hard to be motivated on an overcast, comfy-in-my-jammies
Friday at the end of a long week...however, I'm doing the best I can.  I got up
after the alarm went off, got dressed for the workday (no jammies, here!) and
after 2 cups of coffee, here I am kicking it!  

It got me thinking about how hard it is to push through all the distractions and
desires to just relax and be, out there.  I began to think about all of you, sitting
at home, still coming through!  You have no idea the pride we all feel knowing
that you are out there, persevering! 

GREAT JOB SILVER HAWKS!!!!!

How do I stay motivated?  I have several things I know that keep me getting up and moving through it all.  Initially, it's that hot shower that will wake me up.  Not always a motivator, but it's there in a pinch.  Coffee...javajavajavajava...that is a motivator.  My kitties and my pup pup, Henry, who needs to have some attention before coming in to work motivate me.  I enjoy getting outside in the early morning when the rest of the neighborhood is seemingly asleep.  Then, there are you fine people, who I want to make sure have all the help and resources you need.  I can't let you down!

So, what motivates you to keep going?  Give me a shout out and let me know!  In the meantime, Happity Friday (again!), and I hope you have a FANTABULOUS WEEKEND!

Today I am feeling all slothy up here in the Library Media Center.  It feels kind of
slow and hard to concentrate.  I know that a lot of us are feeling this, right now. 
When I talk to some students, both current and former, they say that motivation is 
hard to come by.  Sometimes it all feels a little overwhelmy...my own new word...
and even though it feels like I need to really just drink some coffee (javajavajava...)
the truth is, THIS IS NORMAL!
​ 
Right now we have so many folks out there suffering some Covid PTSD.  We've been
wacked upside the head with not being able to do things, and we have to be all 
masky, and stuff.  Which is what we ought to be...we need to care for one another
in times such as these.  But really?  We should be caring for one another in all times!

So, ALL THE FEELS, my peeps!  We are okay, even in all of our "not okay"ness...we are experiencing something as a group that doesn't feel all too comfy.  The thing is, this will pass.  So, give each other virtual high fives, and keep on keepin' on, right?  

Thinking of you all, today!  Slothing it here at the LIBERRY!  Totes!

It's been a long time since I've posted a blog!  I am just realizing exactly how long as I look at this, and I have to say...bad librarian!  I am so sorry! That being said, maybe it means I've just been too busy doing the real life work of a librarian.  I think about how I always want to have a great online presence, and now, I think I can make that a priority! 

For the newer students, WELCOME TO VMCCA!  

However, I know that this is a surreal welcome, especially to the freshmen who were looking forward to a new experience.  I wanted to say how impressed I already am at your resilience and dedication to just getting it all done!  This is new to us all, and maybe this is a nice way to ease into the new experience?  I hope that's what it is.  

For those of you struggling, know you can always ask for help!  For those of you who are enjoying the seemingly laid back approach, please don't become complacent...remember that this is still a place where we value the deeper learning experiences.  What can this online presence bring to the table?  Be the digital natives that you are, and bring out the best in us all!

Let me know what you need!  I want to be there for you all!

So, as a welcome back, for both my blog and our students, I say be well!  Be safe!  And be present!

Take care!
​Ms. Ray

                                                 Happy New Year!  

No, really!  It's a brand new year at VMCCA!  We should be getting out the party hats and noise makers, and just going to town!  For so many reasons!  Here, I'll list them for you!

1.  We are back in our own building, and ALL the classrooms are being utilized, again!
2. I took 11 GREAT students to the Global Student Leadership Summit in Milan, Italy, and we (meaning they, and of course, YOU...VMCCA!!) made quite an impression while there!  We had 4 students on four of the finalist teams at the Summit, and one of ours was also on the winning team!  When our students kept getting up to go and be in the finalist presentations, someone looked over at me and asked, "Who ARE you people!?"  I laughed and said, "We are VERNON MALONE!"
3. We had a blast looking at an eclipse, yesterday!  It was AWESOME!  
4. We are going to be welcoming a new Captain to our ship...the awesome Abby Stotsenberg!!!
5. We are going to ROCK school-wide PBL's, and OTTER, this year! 
6. Let's just face it...we love our school, and it's great to be back!

​So, break out the happy dances...we are back and we are going to have a great  year!  Now, let's get to it!

...graduates.  It's a simultaneously wonderful and horrible event.  Graduation means that all these people who we have spent so much time with, worked & sweated with, taught and learned from, and ultimately, came to treasure...they are leaving us.  They are taking that leap, soaring out into the world.  I find that I love and dread this time of year.  

However, we all have a role to play.  A huge part of me is envious, because it's a beginning, and how many of us would love to have a do-over with the knowledge we have now?  Raise your hand!  I know I am one of them.  Of course, I know that I am who I am, now, because of all those experiences from my inauspicious beginning.  I might be someone very different if I had a do-over.  So, if I want to see any changes in who I am, I can have a mini do-over, right?  One can dream!

However, right in front of me, these graduates are beginning to morph into those people.  Sign my yearbook, Ms. Ray.  Come to this presentation, Ms. Ray.  See what we have done.  Leave a mark for our future.  I constantly tell my only Media assistant of 2 years how much she will remember my words in 20 years.  She swears it's not true!  I think that she will be surprised.  It is my hope that my words will have a positive impact, and be remembered as such.

​One presentation included a gift to a teacher that I had a hand in helping them create.  A tripod completed on the Makerbot.  GIS students learn to measure with precision, and so, this is a symbol of looking ahead, and seeing what could be by measuring what is now, and figuring out the tools needed to make a change.  So, the horizon we see, now, will be forever changed by the students who are leaving us.  We will watch from here, and applaud them as they go.  

I came to work this morning and in my email there are advertisements for Living Social.  Most, if not all of them, are offering mani/pedi's, hair styling and permanent makeup...

Is the universe trying to tell me something?  >:-\

​Happy Monday!

I don't know if I've told you before, but I was born and raised at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  It was a good thing, too, because it seems that when you aren't born into a family with a lot of money, you spend an awful lot of time in places that require little to no money to get into, and what better than the Smoky Mts, right?  There are places to go hiking, climbing, swimming, rock skipping, camping, tubing...it's a veritable amusement park without all the cost or fancy decor.  I loved it.  I still do.  

Recently, we took my Dad back to see it through a driving loop known as Cades Cove.  When I was  younger, there were fewer cars driving it.  Most people took their bicycles through.  It's a an area where people settled and farmed nestled in this little pocket (cove) surrounded by mountains.  Protected.  It's a part of the National Park Service, now, and as such, there are homesteads, cabins, a mill, and other features, that are preserved as they were.  He had not seen it in a long time, and we had a great time remembering him taking me there as a child, and now, my taking him there, and his being surrounded by grandchildren.  It was a kind of neat, zen-like, circle of life kind of day.  

So, now, it's Friday, and I find myself channeling the mountains, again.  Wishing I could wake up to the smell of that ancient forest.  Hearing the river as it winds its way through the mountain, crashing over the worn river rocks as it goes.  Seeing the wildlife.  It's what I miss the most about "home".  If you ever get a chance, get thee to the mountains, and take a trip through the cove.  It will be well worth your time.  And the Absent Minded Librarian?  She is there, in her heart and mind, today.  So, go easy on her...