Scoop, Sing and Clean This Week!

By Stacey Anter

The Library Detective

You would really be surprised as to how many celebrations and observances there are in a single week, let alone in a month. April brings so many things: National Garlic Month, National Grilled Cheese Month, Occupational Therapy Month, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, National Soft Pretzel Month, National Autism Awareness Month and so much more. In April we have sayings like “April Showers” and “Spring Cleaning,” so it’s quite appropriate that this week is Cleaning for a Reason Week. It all started with Debbie Sardone, owner of Buckets and Bows Cleaning Service in Lewisville, Texas, when she received a call one day from a woman who asked for a quote, and before hanging up, the woman replied that she wouldn’t be able to afford the price because she was undergoing cancer treatment. Unfortunately, Debbie did not get the woman’s number before hanging up, but she immediately decided that no woman undergoing cancer treatment would ever be turned down by her business. She then came up with a new policy and eventually the idea for Cleaning for a Reason, a non-profit corporation, whereby maid service companies can offer their services to women with cancer. Visit http://www.cleaningforareason.org/ to learn more.

This week is also National Karaoke Week. To tell you the truth, I have never tried singing Karaoke because I’m quite shy, but sometimes if I’m tired or feeling silly, I’ll sing a little ditty in front of friends.  Don’t worry; it’s not American Idol auditions. You’re not expected to be perfect, and there’s no snarky judge there to humiliate you. And if there is, just toss your microphone at them and tell them they’re next. We are all shower singers, I’m sure, so give it a try. You may have some fun.

This is also Administrative Professionals Week, so if you work with an administrative professional, show them some love this week.  They work so hard to keep things running and they are truly missed when they take a sick day or a vacation day. Bring them in a card, or some goodies, or flowers or something to show that you don’t take them for granted. They need a little love.

The snow is gone, the sun is out (most of the time), flowers are starting to bloom, and we’re putting away our winter coats and taking out our spring jackets. But, there’s one more thing you need to consider: those special packages that our dog and our neighborhood dogs are leaving for us. This is National Scoop the Poop Week, so now that we’re all starting to clean up our property from the messy winter weather, please remember to pick up the poop. This is the time that people are more likely to go for walks around the neighborhood, so take care of things so that they don’t have to avoid the land mines. One of our neighbors has a sign on his property that says it all: “Your dog, your poop, you bend, you scoop.” If you walk your dog, please pick up after Fido. If you don’t have a dog, clean up your property and keep it nice anyway.

Thursday, April 24th is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day (www.daughtersandsonstowork.org.) When we bring our sons and/or daughters to work, it becomes a teaching opportunity. We show them the importance of hard work, earning a living, and helping others in whatever we do. If there is anyone who knows about jobs, it’s Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. If you have ever seen this show, or heard his voice on commercials, or read his Facebook posts, you know that this actor, comedian, and everwhere media personality surely knows something about work. So much so, that he’s created the mikeroweWorks Foundation that “is concerned with promoting hard work and supporting the skilled trades in a variety of areas.” The mikeroweWorks poster says, “Work Smart AND Hard.”  For more information on mikeroweWorks Foundation, visit www.mikerowe.com and www.profoundlydisconnected.com. No matter what you do for a living, go ahead and bring your son and/or daughter to work today.  

I call myself the Library Detective because I can find the answers to any question you can think of, or at least I can point you in the right direction.  To find out more about the karaoke, cleaning for a purpose, pooper-scoopers, or bringing your sons/daughters to work, visit your local library; there are more Library Detectives there, too.