Caution: Cute Overload

Any recovering cute-aholics should probably look away right now.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Random things I'm loving right now

1. My new job - I get paid to do lab stuff all day! I've learned a bunch of new tests (they have an automatic titrator! I guess a QC lab has slightly more budget than an environmental lab) and I more or less know what I'm doing. If I had to go back to work it's nice to have something I actually enjoy.

2. New products from American Crafts

3. My minty new sewing machine: It has a blindhem and a stretch stitch! It has a light and a built-in thread cutter! It does zippers and buttonholes! (Meaning I no longer have an excuse not to make dresses for Betsy.) And it was on sale from Hancock's with free shipping. I just wish it would have arrived sooner so I could play with it more before I started working, but I'll deal with that. I think I need to find a sturdier workspace than a cheapie card table in the corner of my bedroom, because once this machine really gets going (variable speed! how 'bout that?) the whole assembly starts to shake violently.






4. Baby fat - hers, not mine.


5. Last Comic Standing on Thursday nights - although I can't believe the Israeli prop comic didn't make it to the next round.


6. My organized kitchen, now that I finally put all this stuff up last week.

I think we only spent about $15 at IKEA for all the parts (and I still have an extra wire basket that I will mount directly on the wall once I get some more wall anchors). I think the whole system would work great for a craft room, too, if you're lucky enough to have a craft room!

7. Baby elephants

8. Cheez Its - I hadn't eaten them for years and I've recently rediscovered how delicious they are. How crazy is that? They have to be the real thing, though, and not Cheese Nips or the store brand.

9. Betsy's new obsession with numbers. She took 11 bites of her scrambled eggs last night. The other day she hopped on one foot 33 times. Why 33 times? Because her daddy is 33, that's why. She's figuring out addition, too. We did some adding and subtracting with M&M's a few days ago but I think the only lesson she learned is that chocolate is delicious.

10. Blogger taking four or five attempts to publish my post (Oh sorry, this was supposed to be about things I love. That was a thing I don't love!)

It's almost here

I start my new job on Monday. Monday! I feel like I should be nervous, but I'm not, just excited. Okay, and stressed out about the child care arrangements but it seems to be working out okay. I found a place I like that's near my work and reasonably priced - although I think I'm going to have to switch to a different provider once school starts, so that Betsy can be transported to and from kindergarten.

When I called up on Monday to accept the job, I had one other curveball thrown at me: one of their lab technicians had quit, and he had been working four 10-hour days, so his hours were available to me if I wanted them. That was an easy decision to make. It won't actually save me any money on child care (a little on gas) but I won't have to work on Fridays. At all. That's right, I'll have a 3-day weekend (and you know how much everyone likes those) every single week. I'm really excited about that because it means I will still have one day to be a stay-at-home mom so I can catch up on chores, work on my hobbies, and do fun stuf with the kids. In fact, we went down to the zoo yesterday and finally renewed our membership (we've let all our memberships lapse since everything has been so up-in-the-air lately) so we will have something fun to do when I'm off work.

I've also been pumping like crazy so that I will have a good store of frozen milk (and in the immortal words of Dilbert, "Man, am I thirsty!") I've been experimenting with different types of bottles with Amy and bless her tiny heart, she really doesn't seem to have a preference. She'll go between Mom juice in its original packaging, Mom juice in an Avent bottle, and formula (useful for backup) in an Evenflo bottle with nary a second thought. Although the bottle I'm trying to give her right now is very slow going because she keeps smiling at me. Keep your eye on the ball, baby.

I went to Goodwill on Saturday - it was half price day - to stock up on my professional wardrobe. (That's one of the best things about being a chemist - no one expects you to look good.) I got two pairs of jeans and three shirts for me, plus three shirts for Betsy and an old hardcover copy of Rebecca, all for $15. One other thing I've been meaning to do is get my hair cut short, since I will be getting up at basically the crack of dawn (I thought those days were over when I finished seminary!) to be at work at 6 a.m. and the last thing I want to deal with is styling my hair. Not that I do anyway.

So. I'm just days away from the most major change in my life since I had Betsy... wish me luck!

Ambivalence

Well, I got offered the job I was interviewing for. (ETA: I mentioned it in my epic post but it may have gotten lost. This isn't the Redi Wip factory, it's a QC lab for a place that makes motor oil. They are looking for an analytical chemist and oh look, I have one right here! Not a six week assignment but an actual, real job. I've interviewed there twice and I absolutely love the lab) No surprise there, because I am smart, talented, and witty so any lab in their right mind would want me to work for them. I've been making phone calls all morning, which if you know me you know that's a big deal (phone calls are right up there with sharks). Still haven't decided if I'm going to take it or not because sweet monkey fritters, childcare is expensive! However, the cost of psychiatric care may actually be higher... Don't get me wrong, I absolutely believe in the value of being a stay-at-home mom. (If I do take the job, my plan is to go for a year and then re-evaluate things. I definitely don't plan on working forever, and I do still want one more baby!) But it's just... barely... possible that they have stepped on my last nerve and I don't want to end up a newspaper headline: "Suburban Mother Actually Explodes. I didn't know a human being could spontaneously combust! said one stunned neighbor." I mean, can you imagine trying to clean up after that?

Oh, and I just typed this whole post one-handed. Just to show you how awesome I am. You should see me with a viscometer and an ICP...

Find the Baby

Where is she? Where'd she go?

Amy's sleeping in her crib now in her very own room. The pediatrician told me that likely the reason she keeps waking up in the night (more so than she should be, given how fat the girl is) is that she smells me. Hey, I can't help that I'm delicious.

Does anyone know how to get lipstick out of clothing? No, I didn't find mysterious kisses on Matt's collar; I left my brand-new Mother's-Day-gift lipstick in my dress pocket, and now there are smears of Cover Girl 'Cutie' all over one of my new shirts. And of course I didn't find it until everything had been through the dryer so I'm lucky it's not much worse. But I think it's funny considering that I almost never wear lipstick. And I've washed my ChapSticks dozens of times withno ill effect (well, except for ruining the ChapStick but they're only ninety-seven cents each so who cares?) Serves me right for trying to look pretty for a change.