Fly me to the Moon!

I usually try to plan some sort of fun outing for Griffin and I on Fridays, usually it involves riding the light rail. Today I decided we should go check out the planetarium at the gateway. Definitely worth the trip! Griffin was so excited to ride the train, he even helped me buy the ticket, he likes to hold on to it until we get onto the train. Then we walked over to the planetarium and checked out all the cool stuff. The best part was, it was totally free! At the planetarium Griffin ran all over looking at the rockets, and planets. We even walked on the moon and on Mars! There were several big groups of school kids, and Griffin was unfazed by them, pushing past them all to get where he wanted. Then we had lunch, and it was back onto the train to ride home. He's always so worn out after our Friday trips, so it's a double bonus for me. Here are a few pictures I took with my phone. Not very good quality, but I think you get the point.

Saints be praised!!

It took five months, but I finally have some happy news to report! At long last, the state of Utah has finally granted me a license! I have been given the license of certified professional counselor extern. This means I can finally get a job and start seeing clients again. There are many more hurdles to jump before I'm a big girl with a full license, but this is the very important first step that has been hanging over my head and causing me great stress for months now. I thought since my program at MNU was so good, it would be easy to just transfer it all over to Utah. I thought wrong. I had to wait three months to meet in front of the board, which was a disaster, then use my powers of manipulation and critical thinking to get the director to see it my way. Then I had to keep harassing the director to keep focused and get the job done! 

So, next week I'm looking forward to a three day training to receive my certificate in domestic violence counseling, which will be helpful in applying for jobs. I already have a few jobs I'm looking at, and have started applying for. We'll see how long this next stage takes! I have a few extra courses that I have to take to get bumped up to the next level of licensure, a CPC intern. Then I begin accumulating 4000 hours, take the National Counselor's Exam, a Utah Ethics exam, and a clinical exam. But I have three-four years to do all that. The most important thing is that I have this license, and I can finally start putting that Master's degree to work. 

I'm so psyched! 

This is me artfully expressing the way that I juggled Griffin and my education.

Happy Valentines Day!

Those of you who have known me through various stages of my life know that "domestic diva" has never been a title that I could claim. Through the years I've gradually been improving in the domestic category, learning to cook, clean and create with the best of them.

On this momentous Valentine's Day, I feel my training is finally complete. I decided to make cupcakes for my sweetheart, my parents and my dear neighbors. Ordinarily, any baking attempt I undertake is filled with strife, mess-ups and great stress. But on this day, (actually yesterday) I was in the baking zone. I baked 20 (20 because I wanted them to be a little on the big side) perfect cupcakes. Iced them in three different colors, and (drumroll....) used a different icing to squirt red hearts on the tops of all of them. As I neared completion of the baking project, I couldn't believe how well it was all going! Literally, no problems. When they were done, and I tasted one (I had to be sure, was this really my moment?) it was delicious!!!! Not crumbly at all. A truly enjoyable activity. I just had to take pictures of my beautiful creations and shout to the world, "I can BAKE!!

To the man in the library...

Dear sir on the laptop in the children's section, 

Remember me? I'm the mom that was following her toddler around the board books corner of the library. While your, let's call him son, sprawled out on the tiny couch made for toddlers playing his gameboy. Forgive me for assuming that you were in the children's section of the library in the interest of your non-book-reading son. When you asked if there was a story time starting soon, forgive me for making the assumption that you were interested in exposing said non-book-reading son to actual books. I pointed out that the story time was actually toddler time because your son was clearly years beyond toddlerhood, and most likely would not enjoy the activity.  Perhaps a more appropriate reply from you would have included an explanation of your concern over story time, a considerate desire to move your laptop and non-book-reading son away from the toddler area in order to not be in the way. Being an ass and having an attitude does not convince anyone of your "thoughtful" intentions. I would suggest avoiding the children's section all together in the future, if you find interacting with mothers and their young children so irritating. 

Ketchup! Yummm...

It has been drawn to my attention that I have been neglecting my blog! I'm always thinking of funny things to post about, but it's amazing how quickly the day gets away from me. Plus, the addition of the Lindsay Family blog has kept me distracted from my own. We Lindsay's are quite entertained with ourselves. But, with Griffin downstairs with the gang from Sesame Street, I have a little time for some hardcore blogging (ewww, that sounds gross!) Everything is pretty much the same. Sean was just in North Carolina for a week, I am still unlicensed and unemployed, and Griffin is still cute as a button and getting bigger by the minute.

He's in this ketchup phase right now. He loves it! So, the other night I fixed a delicious dinner of chicken and potato slices with celery and carrots. Griffin was downstairs playing with his choo-choo's, and I call down to him, "Griffin, come eat dinner!" He shouts back something that sounds a lot like, "I'm too busy playing, Mom". I call a few times, and he still doesn't come. Then, thinking on my toes, I say, "I'll give you ketchup". I hear Griffin shout, "Ketchup!?! YUMMM!!" and come running up the stairs. I'm not even exaggerating! Then, the whole way up the stairs he's saying, "yum yum ketchup!", goes straight to his highchair, and is ready to eat. It cracked me up! He also has this funny way of organizing his food. I put his food on those little plates with separated spots for each food. So, before he eats he has to reorganize the food. I put chicken, potatoes, veggies, and ketchup each in their own slot. He moves all the chicken to the slot with the vegetables and asks for ketchup in that spot. "More Ketchup!" He also dips everything in the ketchup, even the carrots and celery. I can hardly watch, it grosses me out so much!

It's scary how smart he is, and how he's figuring everything out. Griffin also knows how to get places. The other morning I took a different route to church, and when I turned off onto the wrong street Griffin yells, "No! Church, Mommy, Church!" He was so upset with me! One last funny Griffin story. Apparently he's watched me stand on top of the stairs and yell down for Sean too many times, because if Sean's down watching tv, Griffin stands on the top of the stairs and yells, "Sean! Sean!". I think it's funny. Sean isn't as amused.

Well, I hope this satisfies you all, my blog followers! I promise to stay more current. But for now, it's off to the library for story time. Do you think the other mother's would judge me if I wore sweatpants and a big tee shirt? ....I guess I'll throw on some jeans.

A day in the life...

(I know I posted this on the family blog, but it took me all day to do it, and I thought it would be fun to share it with my blog followers, whom I will be fondly referring to as my "fans")
Griffin comes in to wake us up at 6, snuggle for about 1o minutes. Sean gets ready for work, wave at the window, "ByeBye!" Finish breakfast (yogurt, Eggo waffles, milk, still hungry?! apple). Griffin sits and watches Word World (thanks Karen!) on the laptop while I check the family blog, put up an Ipod on Craigslist, change diaper, and get my fill of celebrity gossip (Ann Coulter is cuh-razy!)

Word World is over, Griffin is restless. Another diaper. Griffin colors in the living room while I try to take a picture of the dog, try again to post on Craigslist. Hear breaking glass. Griffin, trying to be helpful tossed a glass in the sink. Oh well, no one was hurt. Time to get dressed, spend 15 minutes looking for a lost shoe. Vague desire to pull hair out. Griffin downstairs to play with choo-choo's. There's the other shoe! Run upstairs to finish posting about dog.

Time to go to story time at the library, put on coats, outside, "look, the neighbor's cat. Hi cat!" Pet cat, throw rocks into the gutter, time to go. Story time, sing songs, listen to books, Griffin loves it. Spend 30 minutes picking up and flipping through every Thomas book in the shelf. Play on the giant books with other kids. Time to go. Carry Griffin out kicking and screaming. Stop at the grocery store to pick up lunch. "Griffin, don't touch the apples"..."Griffin, help mommy pick up the apples off the floor." Urge to pull hair out returns. Time to go!

Back home, lunchtime. (Peanut butter sandwich and fruit juice)

Time for nap. Read three books. Sleep tight. Griffin stays awake and plays in his room. Try to finish posting on the dog, lose internet connection, lose the whole thing! Shit, while we were gone someone posted on a black lab the same age. UGH! Hands drift up to head to pull hair. Decide chocolate is a better alternative. Time to get Griffin to sleep. Change diaper, "whoa!" No wonder he couldn't sleep! Read more books, point out body parts (eyes, ears, and nose, you sickos!) sing songs. Whew! Finally asleep. During the nap I finally finish posting the dog on Craigslist, pick up the kitchen, contemplate folding the laundry, but end up curling up on the couch to read.

Dad calls, he's going to stop by on his way home from skiing. We have a plan to take my mom's rocking chair to her place. We talk for a little while, wake Griffin up, go to the garage to fix the wobbly arm on the chair, Griffin helps. Then we pile in the car to take care of this job.

Now it's 6:30. I realize I'm out of milk for the recipe I planned on making for dinner. I call Sean to see if he can pick it up, but he's still at work. "There was a major problem with a gauge, it has to be fixed tonight, it will probably be a while" Damn. I don't want to get in the car again! I'll just order pizza, we have a free coupon from the last pizza fiasco we had (another complicated story). I call, "we don't deliver free pizza's, you have to come pick it up." Damn. Time to go!

Once we make it back, Griffin makes quite a production out of eating his pizza and drinking his milk, then downstairs for one episode of Blue's Clues (they make a snowman!), and finally bath time. During his bath, surprise!, Daddy came home. Out of the tub, brush teeth, play a little on the floor with daddy, then cuddle up in the rocking chair for a few books (Griffin's back into dinosaurs) and FINALLY, sleep. It's 8:30, a little later than normal.

The rest of the evening winds down pretty well, watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report with Sean, maybe Rachel Maddow, usually read some, and then I crash. This is pretty much a normal day for us, sometimes less hectic, sometimes more. Usually more tantrums. The way I wrote it is pretty much the way my mind works as the day progresses. There are plenty more random thoughts, like, "I should really vacuum up that package of oatmeal by the window." Attempts not to swear at idiot drivers (Griffin is repeating everything I say now) and a million little battles with Griff that I hardly even notice anymore. Plus, funny things he tries to tell me, and goofy games we play throughout the day. It nothing like I ever imagined my life to be, and not a period I'll soon forget.

Happy New Year!

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from our trip to Denver, where we had a wonderful time ringing in the New Year with old friends. We drove 8 hours through the night with Mark and Ruby crammed in the Rondo, and stayed with Johnny and Jen for four days. We had wonderful dinners, visited the aquarium and a nature museum, watched lot's of great football games (Go UTES!!!) played some rowdy games of Cranium, poker, and even some beer pong! It was awesome to see our friend Aiji again, and to meet his fiance Sharon. Griffin was a very good boy, and he kept all us grown ups hopping. It was a great vacation, as it always is with friends. But, it's good to be back home.