About a year in any case! Before the 2014-15 school year was over, I bought Marie Kondo's book. I really didn't think there was much I could learn. I am an organizer by nature. I can whip anything into shape. Maybe I wanted confirmation, and we were near the end of our home renovations. I was ready for a deeper level of cleaning things out. What I realized though is if you have more than one of a thing, you have to keep organizing them. You have to keep sorting them. You have to continuously remember where to put that obscure item you don't remember why you pulled out. So, we dug in. We kept things we liked. We gave away and discarded things we didn't like or use. Easy right!? Well, even for a cold-hearted soul like me, there were times that it wasn't all that easy. It was brutal to be brutal. And I thought I was. Yet, I'm still finding boxes and thinking, "that needs to go." I put a banker's box of electrical things out for Ron yesterday. I didn...

Those of you who know me in real time, know I'm an organizational fiend. You've made a mess of it, I can whip it into shape. Thirty year mess? No problem! And I absolutely love it! But there are areas in which I struggle with organization. I have come to the conclusion that digitally organizing things just isn't always the most efficient way for me. Ideas - searching, gathering, and of course organizing them for easy retrieval (oh what the heck - even just remembering they were ever a thought in my head to begin with!). My random thoughts - weeding ideas lessons for mmmm lets say 6 grade levels ;) lessons for every subject that is taught or might be interesting to students ways kids can valuably respond to literature (can they please be fun too) doodles resembling art hand lettering ideas notebooks Bible studies articles on advocacy yes, I want to submit a proposal healthy meal plans oh man, I forgot to check the Google drive for NCSLMA Levi would ...

The library is far enough along that I can walk away for a couple of weeks. Nonfiction started in an odd place, so I emptied a wall and started shifting. [gallery ids="5694,5695,5696" type="rectangular"] That empty book case will have to go somewhere else when I get back! There are 100s of things I still want to do, but for a few days, I'm going to rest, think about conferences and lesson plans, and plan what to do next! If you'd like to see all the pictures of this summer's progress in one place, visit my Pinterest Board.

Easy is finished enough to make station plans. Each section needs some work as the shifting of books was done for space requirements and not with *finding the book again* in mind! Nonfiction has been thought about, but no books have been touched yet. But I really like the way it's looking. Lights are still out due to the heat.

After day 1. I forgot to take a picture before I started. Looks like a used bookstore. The lights are out because there is no AC. (Insert big sweat drop here.)

Last week, the carpets were cleaned at school. I thought they would be done early in the week, so I could go in on Wednesday and Thursday, but didn't happen. I didn't get to go in. So, instead I took a nap most days. Naps are really nice in the summer. I also went to a meeting on our county's adoption of Discovery Education. went to a departmental meeting. made a Little Free Library Box header (I'll have to take a pix, but it's to use in the library.) made a magazine banner and figured out a way to display new magazines. cleared out (and cleaned up) a small cart I think can work as a listening station. found some large tubs that can be used for big item stations. Worked on an August conference. Met friends for lunch! put a shed together laid a tile floor on the patio Went to Ikea to window shop for items I think I might like to use at home and in the library. We went on a family outing and ended up with two carts full of stuff. Not bad for ...

I've been working in the new digs for three weeks now - four days a week, 10 hours many days. I'm estimating that the library is about half way to where I'd like it to be. Completed: Week 1 - made decisions on items to keep or clear out.  Find a place to put items to keep. Clear the walls. Week 2 - organize items kept as best as possible. This is ongoing. Ron and I have joked time and time again about how we are having to move items to move items to a place that might make sense for a new home. Some cabinets are full of items that will just have to wait. Clear some more items out. This is tricky. If you move out too many things at once, you risk losing something of value. So some things you walk around and think about longer. Week 3 - reorganize fiction into genres. Move magazines and make a reading nook. Clear some more items. Upcoming: Week 4 - reorganize easy. Weeks 5 & beyond - reorganize nonfiction. Because you can only deal with books for so many h...

Polka Dots!  Free polka dots!

Time for another library update! First, the walls and cabinets were covered with 3M mounting tape. EWWW! With some help from my Facebook friends, I found out that GooGone is the ticket. AND this was the result! Ron got all the cabinets and end of shelves stripped of this nasty stuff today! Unfortunately, there are still the walls and windows to go. I worked some more in the office. The professional library was moved into the cabinets in the office and freed up three shelving units! But the main work was done in the main part of the library. Here is what the library looked like the last week of school. Here is what it looked like today when I left. Mmmmmmm crawled out. It's definitely got a ways to go, but the space is really opening up!

I know I'm not alone in this. I've been in search for the perfect planning book / calendar for ages. I've bought them, I've made them. I'm NEVER happy with them. Oh, they satisfy my needs for short while, but then I'm distracted by a new planner that offers something the one I have doesn't. I've tried digital and paper. Mmmm This is a typical love/hate relationship I'm realizing. I did come across a free one .  So I'll share. It's really pretty with quite a few options.    

I want to thank Lisa Jacobson-Brown @ Pearson for a review copy of this book. First, Evernote is a nice little free app to help organize your life. It's easy to use and it syncs on all your devices. There is an online component so you can access it from any computer with Internet access. Evernote is not difficult to use if are at all computer savvy. But when given the opportunity to look at the book, I thought it would be loaded with the things I couldn't figure out on my own. I'm not sure that's true, but I did learn some things from the book that saved me some digging around time in the Evernote Forum . This is a very slick book btw. The pages are thick and glossy. It's full of pictures and easy to use. The book covers the very basics of downloading, making notes and editing them. I hadn't intended to use Evernote for anything but keeping myself organized across devices, but it's got potential to do more along the lines of word processing and publishing. ...

At the suggestion of Steven Anderson , I reloaded Evernote to give it yet another chance. I think Robert Jimenez's blog was the first place I read about it. I could see its advantages, but didn't use it much. All this time, I've been looking for and fighting with ways to keep up with myself. So, I re-downloaded Evernote on the home laptop and the phone and started making some notes. So far it's been really helpful. I can use the web version at school (I should say so far on this count. I remember how I felt the day I walked in to find that dropbox had gotten the county ax). I know I've not scratched the surface of what it can do. Right now, I've got to do lists for everything I'm involved in. So, maybe about 3/15, I can start reading all the articles and watch all the videos to find out what it can really do! One coach mentioned in the comments keeping a file on conversations with all teachers. This could also be done for all students, parents, colleagues. ...

Many of my blogging friends have extensive libraries. Organizing them can be a nightmare. Mine is a mess since I've gone back to school. In this cataloging course, I had to look at Integrated Library Systems and found some that are open-source so they have potential for large personal libraries. The one I researched extensively, Evergreen , is for public libraries that are consortium members, so that is not really an option. However, the second one on my list, Koha , was developed for the smaller library in mind and I'm thinking I might give it a try at home. You can see what the interface looks like by choosing a library from their showcase . Delicious Library 2 . This is really interesting looking and has a lot of visual appeal, but it's apparently only for Macs. Try it for free. $40 if you like it. Media Man is a windows alternative. Also $40. Collectorz.com Book Collector . Looks very much like Delicious, but has a $30-50 price tag for the standard/pro versions. There...

journal articles that you've used in your research? How do you choose which ones to keep? And how do you organize them if you do keep any of them? My first inclination is to just keep them all, but they are starting to take up quite a bit of room. I'm thinking I need to weed. The easiest weeding is to toss them all. It will take time to go through them.