Awwwww

Is there anything sweeter than rocking a baby to sleep in your arms? Especially when that baby's related to you? I guess maybe when he starts patting your arm while you pat his back, that could be sweeter. (This is all probably much nicer than I would think it was had I been asleep already when he started crying...) Can you tell Aunt Dawn is babysitting tonight?

While I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions (too easy for me to put off making changes until New Year's and give up if I don't make it past the first week or so...), I do occasionally resolve to do things. I'm going to attempt to post to this blog at least once a week this year. We'll see how well I do.
I got to thinking over the weekend about conveniences and how used to them I get. Of course there was an event that sparked this thought process - my microwave conked out on me on Saturday. I don't think microwaves are supposed to make that noise - or hit that note, either.
I realized during the rest of the weekend just how many times a day I use that microwave - every morning to thaw the frozen bagel just enough to be able to split it, most evenings to nuke my dinner, or make vegetables or bake potatoes or sweet potatoes. It was sort-of fun to try to work around it a bit - I took one of the baking potatoes and made raw fries instead - hadn't had those in years. I made granny salad instead of having cooked vegetables. I used the George Foreman grill to make meat for dinner.
I've also been using the toaster oven - I think this is the first I've used it since we moved into the house five years ago. I use my sister-in-law's trick and line the tray with aluminum foil to save on clean-up. It comes in handy, and I'll be using it more often now...
The cooking situation is complicated by the fact that the regular oven also does not work. I've been researching how to fix it but have been unsuccessful so far. It seems to be stuck in cleaning mode every time I try to turn it on. It is really, really clean now.
Realistically, though, all of these cooking appliances are conveniences. When I was growing up, we didn't have a microwave, and we still managed to warm up leftovers. (No toaster oven or George Foreman grill then either...) I'm grateful for what I do have, but I still miss the convenience of my microwave. And my microwave popcorn. I trust it's just a season, though.

Multitasking

One of my persistent stressors over the last year and (almost) a half has been keeping up with the house on top of work and school. However, I finally figured out a way to do housework and homework at the same time - I think this semester I'll have the cleanest kitchen I've had since I started grad school. I'm not sure why it took me this long to figure it out. I've started listening to the class lectures with my laptop and speakers sitting on the chest freezer in the dining room - which is on the other side of the kitchen passthrough. Although, now that I think about it, the freezer has only lived there since mid-November. That part of the setup wouldn't have worked earlier. At any rate, I'm happy that I can putter around in the kitchen without feeling guilty that I'm not doing schoolwork, 'cause I am. Now I just need to work on doing schoolwork while cleaning the rest of the house...

Library Humor

I was driving home one evening last week and listening to an audiobook. One of the characters asked the incredulous question, "Who breaks into a library?" Now I realize that wouldn't necessarily be an amusing question, but I couldn't stop laughing. I had to pause the audiobook and laughed so hard I started a coughing fit.
Okay, so the real reason I found it so funny is that my library was broken into the end of September. We still have a boarded-up window in the kitchen and need a night-light for staff to be able to see the light switch. And the perp got nothing - just caused us a lot of trouble. Not too bright, eh?
But after I calmed down and caught my breath, I started to think about librarian humor. Would a non-librarian find that question funny? Or some of the other things that happen in libraries? Or are those things only humorous if you've worked in a library? I came to the conclusion that some of it is really specific, but most of it is fairly universal - it's about people, after all.
So for those of you who haven't experienced library humor or don't work in a library, here are some of the sites that are bookmarked on my work computer under the heading of "Librarian Stress Relief." Let me know what you think.

Unshelved - Some days I'm certain the creators of this webcomic have been hanging out in my library - things just can't be that coincidental, can they?

Peep Research - This one always makes me smile!

Warrior Librarian Weekly - One of my favorite bits on this site is the Warning Labels for Libraries. The Latin for Librarians is also good.

Enjoy!