Stop and Smell the.... Marigolds

Guess she was just tired of doing yard work. So she just plopped herself down in the flowers for a nice little break. :)

That Blankety-Blank Truck!

Our truck is broken....again. Our cars are turning on us. Just in the last month we've spent a ton. Fuel pumps will put us into bankruptcy. (Not really but it sure feels like it!)

I feel like I could spit on or kick and swear at that truck. And mind you, I am NOT a swearing person.

Ah well... at least we still have a working car! It could be worse.

A Question For You

I miss work. Not in the kind of missing 'I'd-rather-be-at-work-than-here' way; but in an intellectual way. Never in a hundred years will I give up being home with Lauren, and I appreciate Chase working so hard so I can. Sometimes I just feel like being a homemaker is not conducive to some of my interests, an interest specifically that not very many people know I have. So sorry this is long... I just need to get it out.

In seventh grade I made it onto the Science Olympiad team by the skin of my teeth. (It scares me to think what my life could have been like had I not turned in that application.) Science Olympiad literally changed my life. Before I felt like I never fit in anywhere, didn't have very many friends, and just didn't have a direction. Science Olympiad gave me a passion to work towards. My junior high had won the State Competition for years before then so it was a big deal.

My favorite event was Reach for the Stars (astronomy). I loved it. All my babysitting money went to buying an awesome telescope and a college astronomy textbook which I still have. (I am a nerd, and yes, I am okay with that.) I spent hours upon hours before and after school studying with my coach, Mr. Erickson. I loved that I wasn't bored anymore since I was learning new things all the time in addition to the basic "busy work" school gave me.

I built hundreds of balsa wood bridges, I memorized hundreds of star names and constellations. I learned about microbiology, genetics, science of sound, engineering, construction, geology and the list goes on. I competed in numerous events. Our team won the State Competition all three years I was in junior high so I was able to go to the National Science Olympiad Competition those three years. My last year in junior high I finally reached a goal that I had wanted since I started training three years earlier-a national medal in astronomy.

I continued Science Olympiad throughout high school with our team winning more state competitions. I was able to be the team captain my senior year. It makes me proud to see all of those trophies in the schools' display cases that our team won together. I was asked to be a TA for the new biotechnology class offered at at the high school which got me more interested in the medical aspect of science. Senior year I was asked to apply for the Science Sterling Scholar award. I did and made it as a Regional finalist.

My junior high coaches, Mrs. Nelson and Mr. Erickson, urged me to become a science teacher. So that's what I first majored in when college came around. It was okay for awhile. But I just felt like it wasn't quite right for me. I switched to Public Health, with the idea of maybe going to medical school. I found a job in a biology plant lab doing genetic research on Arabidopsis plants. My biotechnology class put me in contact with several researchers with prospects of being a lab manager when I graduated.

After graduating and hearing back from a company that I don't even remember applying for, I started work for them as their Sample Testing Technician. I LOVED it. Quansys Biosciences treated me well and it was a great fit for me. My job was to test samples for immunological protein markers that could show up from different medical treatments. I worked on blood, serum, and tissue samples from all over the world, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Biogen etc. Just knowing that the information these places received from the tests I did might help develop new medicines and treatments was thrilling for me.

As the sample testing area of the company started growing, I couldn't keep up and feel like I was being a good mother to Lauren. So I decided it was time to stay home. It was hard... it is hard. But I know it's what I'm supposed to be doing. But that doesn't mean I don't miss learning and being in the know about all the latest science happenings. Believe it or not, there is just not much opportunity for an astronomer/lab technician/geneticist/whatever-scientist being a stay-at-home-mom. And I miss it. Finding new recipes, cleaning, laundry, crafting.... it's all good, it's great even, but it's not my science.

So I guess the question I'm throwing out there is... how can I fulfill my utmost desire to be a good wife and mother, keep a good house... and still find a way to pursue this interest?

Adjustment

We must have lived in too many apartments. I find myself trying to figure out ways to not make anything permanent in this house or having a hard time taking ownership:

-Such as trying as hard as I can to find a way to NOT pound a nail in the wall that I'll have to fill later when we move.

-Saving random bits of furniture because I just don't know if it would work better in our next abode.

-Saving boxes.

-Committing to curtains in every room since I'll just have to remove all the hardware and save all the pieces during the move, not to mention that every single window in every single apartment is a different size.

-Painting since I've never been able to and don't want to have to repaint everything white (the tree in Lauren's room was a daring step for me!)

-Thinking, oh, that small leak doesn't matter, the landlord will fix it when we move soon.

-Never buying new dishes that we could really use since we don't have any cupboard space and I don't want to pack them.

-Oh it's okay if we don't mow the lawn, it's mostly weeds anyway around the apartment.

-The something-or-other isn't working quite right... lets call the landlord.

This whole house thing is so different! And it couldn't be a more happy adjustment...it just might take awhile to realize that we can do whatever we darn well please and enjoy... or dread... the consequences!