Past thoughts + Present actions = Future?

Have I been busy? Sure. We'll go with that one.

Today is the first day in my 3rd attempt to do some soul-searching to end up in grad school or point myself in a new direction. In fairness it might be the 4th or 5th, but let's say attempts made in the same application cycle don't count...so 3rd.

I have been in Panera for an hour. Half of that hour I had the privilege of observing a flood of local high school girls talking about college applications and gossiping about the recent accident/arrest of a "friend." This last part is absolutely foreign to me. The high school version of me has been on my mind for the past week and has caused me to pause a few times.

1. For starters, I didn't travel in a flood. I had a handful of close friends that I mostly spent time with at school. 
2. People called me Sweetie, and not like your waitress at Waffle House calls you Sweetie, just like it was my given name. I think this is the reason I've been dwelling on my past recently - see I ran into my "almost-mother-in-law" last weekend and she refers to me as Sweetie exclusively, 10 years later. It was so wonderful to spend some time with her - she is one of the greatest people I know.
3. I knew where I was going. Not really (and this is where I realize that current self deserves some slack...b/c the time when I had a well-developed plan is a figment of my imagination). I decided where I was going to college days before the deadline to get your deposit back. I decided on my major halfway through my second year at college. The phrase "I'm still deciding," has never been so familiar to a person as it was to me.

Thinking back about past me has been a treat. There are frequently times when I tell myself that I've changed so much from the person I was in high school and yes, but no. It's probably good that I am known to others by my given name rather than Sweetie, but I still don't travel in a flood & I still only pretend to know where I'm going...and that's really okay for a little bit, but one day you realize that if you don't decide soon, you'll be stuck listening to high school girls talk about applying to colleges while the internet fails b/c of the high volume of iPhones surrounding you for the rest of your life.

3rd time's the charm, right?

Adventures in Parenting: Beans, Tears, & Quasi-adults

After 2 years of friendship, Sister Wife & her hubby (self-dubbed Big Cat) have decided that they can leave me alone with the Fantastic Four. It's been a long time coming. 

While I've always been allowed to enjoy the dinner entertainment of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, it was less than a year ago that I was first allowed to spend time with the monstrous Thing - in our less than a year together, she and I have become fast friends. We play the little piggy game at least 17 times whenever we're together. 

Miracle of all miracles, the Human Torch has never known a life without me. I held him days after his birth & I hold him now as he flirts his way into my heart and then promptly bursts into flames. We have a different kind of bond that I'm sure will one day include the little piggy game at least 17 times whenever we're together.

So right. Sister Wife & BC left me alone with the Fantastic Four - twice!! Truth of all truths, I loved every crazy minute of it & would hangout with them alone again and again without a second thought b/c at the end of the night, I get to return them. Here is a short list of the things I've experienced in my recent dabbling in parenting:

1. Older siblings are mostly helpful. The great thing about older siblings is that they can help out. The silly thing is that they expect food in return. Despite the fact that 8 of 10 meals I eat are cereal, I do know how to cook. Who am I to deny growing children dinner?!
2. Toddlers know exactly what they want. This is a transcript of our conversation about dinner: "Would you like cereal? No Daddy cereal. Beans. Oatmeal? No updown. Beans. Cheese? No cheese. (cue tears) Beans. Okay, I'll make beans." 20 minutes later "Here are your beans. No beans, no beans! Peas may have cereal, peas?"
3. It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. Yes, sweet baby, it's your party, so let it all out. I have changed you. I have tried to feed you and failed. I have tried to let you sleep and failed. I have carried you around and swayed until I forgot that I was swaying and that works about less than half the time, so I'll just do that until your eyelids are too heavy to hold up.
4. If you give a toddler a bubble bath, she will need to put on a fresh set of clothing. And to con her into applying these clothes, you might make promises that include shoes. And if you give her shoes, she will need to go outside. And if she goes outside she will negate the bath and fresh clothing in which you have just put her.
5. Flattery will get you everywhere if you're hoping to go down to the basement. Older brothers (well one in particular) are really good at thanking you for the dinner you provide/supervise and at checking to see if there's anything else they can do to help their "favorite babysitter ever - and if I don't need them for anything would it be possible for us to go to the basement to watch a tv show while we eat dinner?"

Rapunzel, Rapunzel

In my head this post started with "As I start my #th time locked in the tower...", but I've lost count of the number of times. Really, I'm not even trying to be dramatic. I sat down and tried to remember how many times it's been and that's when it hit me: I was hired to do another person's job. 

2 people's jobs, to be exact. I was initially hired as a temporary technician when Co-worker A (aka BBF) and Co-worker B (aka Sister Wife) were both out on FMLA 2 years ago in May. Mind. Blown.

My visit in the "tower" (this is really funny if you know where this lab is. It's on a teenth floor in a building with 'tower' in the name) this time has been fairly tame so far. The BBF still hasn't offered a return date (& an end to my sentence), but I feel fairly certain that I will remain in the tower for the rest of the week which is kinda okay b/c I have an extensive lists of things to better up there.

I have, however started growing out my hair in the event that I am not released in the week to come. You never know when a prince might pass by. 

Mountains out of molehills

I have recently decided to dial it down a notch (okay so temp dying your hair purple might be a contradiction to that statement, but indulge me). As a footloose and fancy-free SINK (single income, no kids) 20-something I tend to make mountains out of molehills/big deals out of small ones/bear gifts as burdens. This week's challenge to myself: don't.

So here goes my celebration of small things instead of the exaggeration of my world-ending "problems":

1. I know that Etsy has been a thing for a long time, but on Monday I came to fully appreciate that browsing-for-a-few-minutes-while-dinner-finishes can quickly turn into 3 hours (and few odd glasses of wine) of curating and it is amazing.
2. Speaking of curating, I ordered a whistling kettle and my first piece of original art because I'm an adult. I'm beyond stoked to move my art from wall to wall to find the perfect resting place. I will probably stare at it for hours when it arrives while drinking tea prepared with hot water from my kettle.
3. Oh, Tuesday. On Tuesday, The Shelf of Shame that has held a few pounds of disheveled protocol materials for the past year found itself victim to my mad organizing skillz - add that to the list of "things I know". 
4. Also I had an evening coffee date with my main squeeze Friend#1 in the out of doors. It was delightful.
5. Wednesday was all kinds of wonderful (cue a list within a list!)
• I did about 17 things that have been on my "Daily Grind" to-do list at work for about 7 weeks. Approximately.
• THEN !!! there were flowers in my apartment (okay, I put them there. I am allowed to be the person that cares enough about me to get me flowers). 
• I also found temporary purple hair dye that I don't have to reapply everyday       = I can rock lavender locks all week long with a third of the effort
• Playing my mandolin sounded a bit like songs being played on mandolin instead of someone repeatedly running into a wall with a mandolin in their hands
6. Today's discovery of accessories at Nordstrom rack is a nice coat of frosting on the decadent Olexa-esque cake (this cake elicits an "I'll have what she's having" from anyone in the establishment not already eating cake) of this week so far. How I've survived without floral-print hair clips until today I will never know.

Why am I doing this?

There have been a handful of time in the past few years when I've been encouraged to blog. Each time I find myself carried away with an abundance of brilliant blog ideas that I immediately begin writing them down. Those ideas then sit there for a few days before I decide that they are no longer pertinent and probably no one would read it anyway. Probably true. 

Here's the thing. I don't actually have a clue what I should talk about (which is pretty important for a blog). After taking a walk to do some reflection (okay so it was the 2 blocks from my lab to my parking deck) I decided that in order to succeed I should stick to what I know: 

1. Lists
2. Art & Crafts
3. Other peoples' jobs

Honestly, I don't entirely know how that translates to a blog so I'm just going to end with a list of the things that make this manic Monday a little bit better.

1. Not only can I do my co-worker's job, but I can leave said co-worker's workspace cleaner than I found it. 
2. If my favorite 2 year old can refuse to give me a hug goodbye, I can refuse to take a message for someone who doesn't work in my lab.
3. We can all rest assured that when the maintenance man asks for the cavalry, he will receive.
4. Sometimes you need to work in the same space with someone completely out of sync with what you're trying to do because the constant interference gives you a good chuckle. 
5. A long time ago someone's grape juice went bad, but they drank it anyway and now that's a thing.