I think I love Taft.

Hi, people.
Before I talk about ugly stuff, I should share one very happy thing with you. My dear friend Jess (who is going to be one of my bridesmaids) got engaged Thursday night! In the parking lot of the library, no less. Congratulations! Yay! I am very excited for her. I took her a gigantic stack of bridal magazines for her to look through on Saturday.

Meanwhile, things are getting kind of scary at work. Our city's mayor recently announced that we are going to have a $20 million dollar budget shortfall. The city library (where I work) is a branch of the city government. We've already been tightening our proverbial belts by limiting printing, keeping office supplies like paper clips and rubber bands out of view (because we may not be able to replace them) and we are on our last supply of plastic bags- after this we aren't getting any more. It's been an inconvenience, but I think the hardest part has been being bad-mouthed by patrons who expect so much more (they can become quite angry when they find out we don't have a fax machine, we don't offer color printing or sell stamps, etc.) We just found out this weekend, though, that there will be "furloughs" for employees of the city government, and this supposedly means us. Meaning that (as far as we know right now), the libraries will likely be closed for a few select days over the next few months, and we won't get paid for the time off. While I've said in the past that basically my paychecks are spoken for before I even get them, I don't have a family to support, like so many of my coworkers. This is a pretty scary time for all of us. I would much rather have a few days without pay than be laid off, of course. But anyway, I'd appreciate it if, should you think about it, you could offer up a prayer on behalf of us: the city, to make wise choices when it comes to coming up with this money; the families who will be affected by smaller paychecks; and myself, that I'll be able to put my trust in God when it comes to my well-being and my wallet.

And now, I must get back to catching up with my homework. Here is what I accomplished today, for my U.S. Presidency class (we had to make a campaign video- not a PowerPoint, and I learned how to use MovieMaker. Yay, me.)