The Day the Scary Movie Followed Me Home

One of the things that I absolutely love about nannying is getting to watch movies during the day when everyone else is sitting at a desk being bored and sad a productive member of society (Dear HBO On Demand - I love you. Call me. Seriously.)

Anyway, yesterday I got up the courage (yes, courage - I'm a wimp when it comes to scary movies) to watch The Mist. Well ... I half watched it.

I may or may not be re-reading Twilight and I may or may not have been way more interested in reading about werewolf-vampire-teenage girl love triangles: which are way less scary than giant, people eating bug-aliens sneaking around in crazy fog.

But the worst part was when I came home and discovered this in my bathroom sink:

It's an assassin beetle and while, yes it is a creepy ass looking bug to start with, normally I would ok with it. I probably would have even taken it outside myself (I say probably because I have days when I cannot even handle the thought of touching a bug). However, given that I had just watched a movie where the bad buys were bigger versions of this, I screamed like a little girl, hid in my room and made my brother deal with it.

Ewwwwww.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Today I would like to do what everyone else is doing and send a giant, huge THANK YOU to everyone currently in uniform and anyone who has ever worn one.

And I would like to challenge everyone else to make everyday Veteran's Day. My mother, whenever we are somewhere and she spots someone in uniform or an older person with a hat, she will go out of her way to go over to them and thank them for serving.

I used to think it was embarrassing but then one day I was out with some friends for lunch and right in front of me was a gentleman in uniform. On a whim I tapped him on the shoulder and thanked him for serving.

The look in his eyes is something that will never, ever forget. It was clear that he really appreciated being thanked. He grinned at me and thanked me and shook my hand.

My challenge to you, and myself, is to start thanking all the veterans you meet. Just because it's not November 11th doesn't mean that they don't deserve to be appreciated.

I think I am in love

Lately I have spent 90 - 100% of my time making goals for myself and doing my damnedest to get them done. Anything that helps me get said goals taken care of I am pretty much an instant fan of.

And with that in mind I give you this totally awesome thing:


So cute right? They, and other totally awesome and adorable things (all of which I want now), at Mary Kate Devitt's Etsy shop. If anyone feels like sending me a present, I would not be opposed to finding one of these in my mailbox.

My Random Thought of the Day

Baby Socks. Have you ever tried to put them on a baby?

The thing about baby socks that I struggle with is how you have to fight to get them on the kid, but when it's time to take them off all you really have to do is look at them sternly. I do not understand.

My Friday ...

I think this pretty much sums it all up for you guys.

This past week the 4 boys that I take care of after school (who also live right next door - it's the best commute EVER) didn't have school on Thursday or Friday. Plus it was wet and rainy which meant that they couldn't go outside and run off the extra energy they had on Thursday, which ended up coming out as a COMPLETE MELTDOWN at about 2:45.

So their parents took pity on me, gave me some cash and told me to take the boys to Chuck E Cheeses in the hopes that I could have one day when I didn't go strait home and drink a six-pack of beer (you may think I'm joking, but I'm really not).

It was great. They played and did a fantastic job of listening and helping to take care of the youngest brother and I got to sit and work on my sock (it's the dark blue thing in the picture up there). I also spent some more time considering what to do now that I didn't get into my Child Life program and I think I might have it figured out. Sort of. It's a start anyway.

All and all, I think things are starting to look up around here.

Things I've Learned Thursday

I know that back in the day I said that I would try to keep this thing sort of light even if I was feeling like being a Debbie Downer ... and because of that I would like to apologize to you before you read this.

Things I've Learned Thursday #4
{wah wah wah waaaaaaaah}

1. Not getting accepted into a program you really want too is way more depressing when you realize you don't really have a back up plan.
   
2. I have no one to go to Holiday Mart with this weekend *really sad face*.
3. My dip is not french onion and comes with no chips. LAME.

I'm sorry for being a loser guys. I know I was just complaining about it the other day (see: item 3) but I got a phone call today from Children's Mercy telling me that I did not get into the practicum program (despite the fact that I spent hours on my application and getting ready for the interview) and this call made me realize that I have NO IDEA WHERE TO GO FROM HERE.

I think part of it is that I have no clear idea of "what I want to be when I grow up" and I think the other part is that my mother is pushing me SO HARD in the direction of grad school that I have absolutely no desire to do what she says.

I think that tomorrow I am going to lock the boys I babysit for outside (I'm just kidding - I would never lock a child anywhere, I promise) and take a little time to sit down and think about what my ideal Plan A is. Then I am going to make myself dream up a Plan B and Plan C so that the next time I get rejected I won't be able to sit around and wallow about how I don't know what to do next.

Well wishes and Plan A, B, and C ideas are welcomed and encouraged. I hope you guys had a better week than I did.

I'm in a Dip (I wish it was french onion)

"I think there’s a dip in life—a big dip, the king-daddy of all dips. If you were looking at it from a Hegelian perspective, it would be the antithesis phase, where every last bit of every idea put forth in the thesis phase got challenged. What I like to call the Sucks Ass phase. Because here you are, happy and carefree and connected, when all of a sudden—and generally, for a long, long time—things start seriously sucking out of nowhere, and everything you thought was true and possible becomes unclear and maddeningly out of reach."
- Colleen Wainwright, the Communicatrix

This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately for a number of reasons.

1. My mother is convinced that the best thing (the end all, be all best thing ever) would be for me to go to grad school. To the point that she has started researching schools, application processes and emailing the information to me.
2. I envy the enthusiasm my mother has for me going to grad school. I, however, remain unconvinced.
3. Getting a job - like, a big girl job (with a 401K and benefits) - seems like it isn't going to happen for years (mainly because to get a psych job you have to have an advanced degree - see item 1 and 2).
4. That whole, "life is fine and then starts sucking out of no where" thing. Welcome to my life.

I would like to think that taking a moment to appreciate the dip I have found myself in would help me create the momentum I need to get up and out of it. However, I still feel like the 'get up and out of it is "maddeningly out of reach".

Yes I know this is part of being a young person who is struggling to find their place in the world. I just wish that I had an idea of what I want to do, to be doing, 10 years from now. And I don't. Not even close. Which may be why I keep waffling on idea of grad school. Is it a good idea? Yes. Will I end up there eventually? More than likely.

I suppose the best thing for me to do right now is wait and see what happens with Children's Mercy. I can't think of anything better to do right now.