The learning curve, she is slow

Two nights ago, during dinner, A was looking for something under the table, lifted her head, and banged it right into the side of the table. "Ow!" "Be careful, honey." A scant minute later, she does it again. This time, there was a morose sigh and then the sole utterance, "Again."

At least she's self-aware that she's not too quick, right?

Best. Customer. Reviews. EVER.

Three-Wolf Moon T-Shirt from Amazon.com. A must-buy, evidently. Seriously--totally worth your time to read the customer reviews.

Graduate school is overrated--until you get your grades

I would swear that I spent at least 36 hours on one of my two final papers. I had to take two days off of work to write it. I came to hate the English language. I swore relentlessly about APA style. And I was fairly convinced that I was never taking another grad school class again, screw the master's degree.

Then I found out that I earned an A in the course. So naturally, I'm all revved up about the fall semester.

I am a moron. But at least I am a self-aware and slightly more educated moron. 

Shades of Norma Rae

So, it's well known at daycare--and in all of A's universe--that my daughter doesn't like to nap. Since day one, she has not been a napper. As previously chronicled on these pages, that periodically has posed problems at daycare. (My stance, for the record, is that while I agree that she can't be running around waking up the other kids, she also cannot be forced to sleep. Without Benadryl, at least. But I digress.)

At any rate, today, her teacher informed me that during playground time, a group of kids--three-and-a-half-year-olds, mind you--was chanting in unison on the swings. The chant? "No more naps! No more naps!" The leader of the mini-union? Well, I think you can guess.

Maybe she'll be a lawyer for the ACLU.

Science versus evolution: Not a cage match?

Excellent article on reconciling belief in evolution AND creationism. Personally, I am by no means a devout church-goer--I have issues with organized religion. But I respect those who worship in whatever way best suits them, and many friends are devout Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. I do, however, end up with an eye twitch when I am told that the Earth is only 10,000 years old and that Jesus wrote a dinosaur, simply because that outright discards scientific proof in an effort to justify an individual's need to support his or her faith. If you have to ignore incontrovertible evidence to bolster your faith, I'm thinking you need to work more on having faith. Faith, after all, is a belief: unlike science, it doesn't require outright proof. If you have to prove it, it doesn't exist. Or so sayeth the Book of Sherry.

Anyhoo, if you're interested, here's what a devoutly religious scientist has to say on the matter. He's got some good stuff.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/PARKER0510_20090511-182909/267117/

It's raining, it's pouring

There's the reason that the proverb "when it rains, it pours" exists. Because it is true. Very, very true.

Still plodding ahead on the papers--although I've gotten some helpful feedback from my very patient, very wise professor, who has talked me down from the ledge several times now--and now coping with cat and daycare crises. The former being that Mama Kitty seems to have some kind of infection (I know this because, to put it bluntly, her poo is green and foul-smelling), so I have to take her to the vet tomorrow; the latter being that I am being increasingly chided by daycare because A won't settle down at naptime. Sure thing. Get right on that.

Although short of duct-taping her to her cot, I'm at a loss for what else to do--I've come up with every form of prevention and punishment I can think of or have read about, all for naught. Today, I was told that if she continues, I'm going to have to take her home every day at naptime. There is something fundamentally wrong about that, I think.

Anyway. I continue to slog.

We have been fruitful and multiplied

No, don't get excited. It's just that the pregnant cat who adopted us has graced us with four kittens. All dreadfully cute, of course. Mama Nature knew what she was doing with young-uns--make them too cute to not be taken care of.

Keeping A away from them has been a bit of a chore. She, naturally, is dying to hold them. However, having seen how she "held" the Easter eggs, I am going to wait until they get a little, um, sturdier, let's say. Should be an interesting battle.

So, to recap: I am part-time single mom, full-time employee, finishing up grad class with two papers due in two weeks (that comprise 90 percent of my final grade, like WTF?), both magazines in production... and now adoptive mother to five cats who are living in our downstairs bathroom.

I simply cannot wait until I am committed.