A day in the life of...

I was awoken very abruptly this morning...not by the usual whacks in the head from Oliver, but by screaming. As that has never happened before, I was sort of scared. Screaming and fear are not good ways to wake up. Oliver was awake and sitting beside me, sort of dazed still. I shook off the sleep and realized that my mom was screaming at a cat out in the carport. Our cat. Who had just killed a baby bunny. I had quite a few thoughts about that... first, I hoped that the corpse would be gone before we got out there. I didn't want Oliver to try to play with it, y'know? I also wondered why the cat never killed anything that should be killed. She doesn't kill spiders. She doesn't kill sun scorpions. She doesn't kill mice...except the one kangaroo mouse last summer... that she found somewhere outside and BROUGHT INSIDE. The only positive thing I could come up with is that, at least this baby bunny wasn't someone's pet...like the last one. I wondered about the situation from the cat's perspective, too. I bet she feels pretty upset at the way her gifts are interpreted... how she is yelled at and punished for headless lizards and random bits and pieces of unknown furry animals...and how the gifts are unceremoniously sopped up in paper towels and Walmart bags and tossed in the trash.

I never saw the bunny. Evidently it screamed :(

There was also this dream induced funk that I had some trouble shaking for about half of the morning. I had considerably more morning than usual, though, so it did happen. I hate it when I know I was dreaming something absolutely horrible but don't remember what... and the icky feelings from it hang on after I wake up. It's much more difficult to reconcile something like that if you don't have any memory of how the feeling came about.

So...I cleaned. For a while. I removed cat-hair covered stuff and swept up cat hair and vacuumed cat hair. Oliver really tried to help...he followed me around with his swiffer :) The house looked decent by 9:30. I don't recall much else until our shopping trip.

FINALLY, after weeks of waiting...and wishing at least one local store would come through, I got the Huggies jean diapers.
Seeing that Amazon link makes me think I should have just ordered them a couple weeks ago, because that's a much MUCH better price. The diapers are pretty cute! They smell a little more like plastic/chemicals than Huggies Snug & Dry, which is what we usually get because they have almost no smell. For the first few months, we used Pampers Sensitive Swaddlers. Once Oliver outgrew the Swaddlers, we had to switch to Huggies because I couldn't stand the smell of any of the other Pampers diapers. We got one box of Luvs...I don't know whatever happened to them. We used one, but the smell was so overwhelming that I just couldn't put another one on my kid... such a shame, too, because they're a lot less expensive. I haven't tried the Walmart or Safeway brands...or any other store brands. So anyway... jean diapers seem pretty decent. I might order another box online. :)  Here's my boy, passed out on the couch in his *designer* diaper.

True Blood just started. I'm having real difficulties with this and Twilight right now. With Eclipse coming out in a couple days, I've watched both movies again this week. Because I've been watching/read True Blood, I've been having trouble keeping the stories straight. They're pretty much the same... There are vampires and werewolves. The star vampire looks pained. The girl dating the star vampire is a moron. Someone can read minds. There's some violence. The only real difference is the sex. True Blood is a free-for-all...Twilight is all about tension. Eric is hot, though. I liked Bill at first, but he's just too dumb. And Jacob is hot in the movie, but so annoying in the books. Ugh. Are all vampire stories full of morons??

Anyway.

Oliver has learned to pretend quite well :)  He can prepare a meal and serve or eat it...and drink pretend drinks.  :)  It's very cute!  He's just such a smart little boy...I swear he's learning new stuff every couple seconds.  He doesn't yet try to feed his stuffed animals...he'll hug his bubba bear and give him to me.  When I was little (not quite so little as Oliver), I thought my stuffed animals were cold...so I put them right up close to the heater.  They burned.  Somewhere I have a little stuffed sheep with a burnt butt.  I would love for my son to have that much compassion, but would also like for him to have the foresight to avoid burning his toys.  :)

Oliver also used his potty again today :)  He's such a good boy!!!  :)

It's getting kind of difficult to focus on writing while watching True Blood...soooo I'm gonna stop.

<3

I should have written yesterday...

For whatever reason, I was full of information and insight yesterday...and today I am not. I spent a good deal of time working on getting freelancing projects, I watched a movie, played a word game, and read a little bit of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.
It's an excellent book, so far. I had a near-complete breakdown 10 pages in though... Reading something that requires some degree of deep thought when tired is very frustrating. I don't think I'm capable of contemplating the concept of nothing after 8pm. Reading about physics and cosmology is exactly what I need to stop the feeling of mental decay associated with no longer being a student.

I also made a chicken casserole. I'd share the recipe, if there was one... I just threw a bunch of random veggies, some noodles, and some chicken in a casserole dish and topped it with bread sticks. Calling it a chicken casserole is really deceptive, since it's more like a garlic casserole. It wasn't intentional...and it's a good thing I love garlic. Evidently, Oliver is also a fan of garlic. The leftovers have permeated the entire fridge...AND freezer...with the potent stench of garlic...mmmmmm. :) No vampires are going to be visiting my house... :)

Yesterday Oliver and I got matching 4th of July shirts :) I was soooo happy to find out that my town is going to be celebrating on the 3rd this year. The public excuse for this is that nothing will be open on the 4th... the REAL reason is that 90% of the town's population will be at church on the 4th. For a long time I was worried that Oliver was going to be missing out on the festivities, and that made me sad...and not really want to participate myself. BUT! We'll be watching the parade...going to the water fight...wandering around a bit...and hopefully he'll get an extra good nap so that he'll be up for the fireworks! :) And hopefully this year I don't lock my keys AND phone in the car. Last year, Oliver was tiny for all of this...just 3 months old... but he did sooooo well. He LOVED the motorcycles in the parade and the fireworks...we'll see what he loves this year :)

Last night, before settling in with my book, I flipped through the channels. It seems we're having a free preview of Cinemax. I am not impressed. Well, not by the actual movies...but I am quite impressed by the cleverness of the titles for the various soft core (I think?) porns that were on... The Devil Wears Nada... Cleavagefield...Co-Ed Confidential: When Virgins Attack! (I genuinely hope that you're able to sense the sarcasm with which this paragraph is written...)

In Oliver news - A blimp flew by yesterday. It was flying pretty fast and...crazy. I've never seen one move like that...or at all, really. Oliver was very interested in it. He pointed and said 'airplane' quite a few times :)

And what else did my boy (who will be 15 months old in 2 days) do yesterday?? He peed in his potty again! :) I'm such a proud mama.

He also really likes to take out the trash...from his diaper genie or from the bathroom. He can lift the bathroom trash because it's such a tiny bag...and he'll carry it outside to the big trashcan. :) He can't lift the diaper genie bag, but he sure does try! He drags it..usually pretty far. We're also getting to the point where putting toys away is a game. He'll put away one toy at a time, but gets sidetracked a lot.

Right now he's at the door to the sun room, trying to figure out the door knob. I think that's one milestone we can skip for now :) I'd rather he learn a few new words...

OH! One more thing. Monsoons have arrived!!! :) It's tough to decide which is better: monsoons or spring... both are such amazing times in the desert...they both smell good (and I'm allergic to both). The last 2 nights have been much hotter than I'd like, but the smell of rain nearly made up for the heat. I get very nostalgic during monsoons...and spend more time than I should thinking about all the great summers I've had. Part of me so badly wants to teach just so that I can always have summers.

Well, I'm off to do more job hunting and playing.

Things I Forget.

At the top of the list of things I tend to forget - this blog! The prize?? This entry!!! WOO!!! It's shiny and new :)

So...I probably have a billion things to bitch about, but how about I start with a victory dance instead?? My son, who is not yet 15 months old, has successfully gone peepee in his potty!!! It happened Saturday evening (the 19th). I was so excited that he got scared... which I hope does not lead to anything along the lines of, "I do that, mommy freaks out...never do that again!" Then he stuck his hands in the potty...so it was time to get off the potty. He then tried to dump his potty on the floor. We then left the room for a 'potty favor'...meaning an M&M...and he was very happy. I don't think that he was as happy as I was, but...someday :) We'd only been actively trying out the potty for 2 days at this point. Before, he'd sit on it occasionally... he'd stand on it... he'd drag it out of the bathroom. He also talked to all the potties on the shelf in Walmart that looked like his (here's his potty, btw. He LOVES it)
There is only one thing about this potty that I don't really like... it is tall. My kid has figured out how to get onto it, but has a bit of trouble getting off of it without taking the whole bowl with him. It seems this was developed with taller, older children in mind. Oh well. I refuse to have a 4yr old in a diaper. That shit's just not happening (quite literally).

In other news... what is up with this job market?? I had anticipated being able to find a job within a month of graduation. It has been a month and 2 weeks, and I have had nothing but nothing. I've received a few, "We're sorry but other candidates...blah blah blah" emails... and not a single phone call. While searching for jobs, I see that there are probably 100 listings for various kinds of engineers and just as many for RNs and physical therapists. I occasionally wonder why I didn't choose one of those as my profession, but then remember that I don't appreciate the stress that accompanies math... nor do I possess the compassion necessary to be vomited on by strangers. I look around and see the welfare moms doing better than me financially...and wonder why I didn't choose dirty crackwhore as a profession. I'd like to think the reasons are fairly obvious... but still, those dirty crackwhores don't owe Sallie Mae anything. There's gotta be something out there for someone with a master's in library science who isn't able to move anywhere. :| I really hate that someone else dictates the success or failure of my family.

What it really comes down to, though, is doing something more just to get an interview. I'm fun in interviews... I think. It seems that most employers are also not entirely sure what it is that a librarian does...so I doubt I'm being given fair consideration. They figure I know how to read and put books on shelves. :| Anyway, once I get a job of some sort... I'm going back to school. Yep. I just can't keep away. I've decided against law school, though. I'd hate to have to compromise my morals, and I know that's a profession for the immoral, the heartless, and the greedy. I've decided on network administration certification. 30 credits. I can do 30 credits... I've already done like...200?? I dunno. I'm a big fan of perpetual learning...which should be fairly obvious since this is the first time in 25 years that I haven't been enrolled in some kind of school.

I feel the dumbening cloud settling in...

Anyway... my kid will be home any minute and I need to prepare myself!!! :)