Not your average day...

Most days we drudge in to the drudgery of work that we drudge on each day. Slogging through the mounds of books that are returned or ordered each day may seem like schleppery to you but let me assure you, it is.  

Once in a while we have reason to celebrate and this was one of those days:

Amanda Wiese is our LPA otherwise known as Library Programming Assistant- the person in the library in charge of, go figure!- programming. Programming at Hampden Branch Library (and if you'll bear with me I'll enumerate them as it is different for our branch not only because we are a Language and Learning Branch but also because Amanda is able to do a lot with few resources!) So perhaps in light her duties we can call her LPA extrordinaire! Her duties include Story time on Monday mornings. You know singing 'The Wheels on the Bus' for the 479th time for little ones who look up at her in wonderment because they can't figure out how she knows all the words. And Book Babies on Thursday mornings where she sings 'The Wheels on the Bus' for the 480the time as though it were the first time! Tuesday & Wednesday evening is the Community Learning Plazas. I am not sure I can explain all the activities that are going on with any clarity. People come in with their different needs and Amanda amazingly helps them all. It must require adult ADHD disorder, at least I am convinced that must be how she manages it, to move so quickly from one person to another with each of them doing a different thing without losing her  mind, yet she does it with expertise. 

Thursday afternoons she and Anton have Wii activities for the older kids and in between she's reference librarian, circulation clerk, and shelver. She chairs meetings for her fellow LPAs and has, in the past year, worked on a craft committee in her "Spare" time (hahaha -- as if). In the summer she runs the Summer of Reading program having gone to schools to promote it (because she has NOTHING else to do-- see Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) which also requires programs for the kids each week. 

 I break out in a cold sweat and want to run screaming into the night just thinking about all the work Amanda has on her to-do list each day! Fortunately my boss (it was she who first initiated the idea) and co-workers also recognized her hard work and we all agreed to nominate her for Employee of the Quarter. 

 A few weeks later we found ourselves gathered together ready for... we weren't sure what. Well, maybe I should say I wasn't sure what. I just invited and decorated, ordered the cake, brought food and hoped for the best.  Once everyone got there-- well, here they are:

Pictured above is Pilar our Manager's manager,and below the E-Team (very important people from downtown: Dianne Lapierre, Letty Icolari, Susan Kotarba...) and the City Librarian, Shirley Amore, (She's the political operative- the person who liaisons with the mayor and Library Commission) all here to help us break the monotony of the repetitive days we generally cycle through and to help us commend our coworker appropriately!!! 

Awards were awarded, words spoken, and honor bestowed... 

 We had some money to spend to dress the affair appropriately and others added to the menu with great aplomb. 

 Autumnal decor felt appropriate though summer was still gifting us with it's presence outside the doors of our library.

 More concretely and importantly Amanda was given a paid day off, a year membership to the Art Museum, a one hundred dollar gift certificate which I hope she spends freely on HERSELF!

No party is complete without cake! Unless perhaps one prefers pie. But if the choice is cake or death, I think the choice will always be cake.  

It's not always easy to get everyone in one place at one time

But even our youngest was in attendance! Generally it's her naptime but today she was all smiles and sparkles for the party.

After all was finally said and done, we got to the serious part of the morning.

eating and talking and enjoying each other's company! 

Thanks again to all who made it such a wonderful day and congratulations to our EOQ!!!!