After much gnashing of teeth and pacing and calling people for advice - something I NEVER do - I took a job/internship for the coming year. I had made my decision, picked up the phone to call HR and as I was dialing - the other line ringing indicator thingy beeped. It was a woman from Job #3 who knew I had asked Job #1 for a week to decide - and was letting me know that though she couldn't officially offer me anything until I officially turned down Job #1 that I could do so with assurance of landing Job #3. Dear Universe - may I please have this much choice when I graduate? Thank you. Job #2 was also awesome and I'm not looking forward to telling them I can't do it, in case they never want to see me again.
But hard-headed practicality won out. Job #1 had the most practical skills, the kind rarely found in internships too, the most amount of hours for the best pay (still will only clear a few hundred after childcare though), name brand University recognition for my resume, working with their rather awesome movie and art collection and possibly most important - I can walk there in 1/2 an hour, bike in ten minutes. That is insanely rare for this part of the world. AH can also bike or walk to work in about the same amount of time. And if it all works out beautifully, as I pray it does, the Good Daycare will confirm the babys spot in their center this week - about 3 blocks from my workplace. To get to school two days a week, I'll take the free express bus from Duke to UNC. It could all work very well. Perhaps where you live walking and biking commuting (especially with child) doesn't sound that extraordinary but I now live in the land of Freeways, so it would be just short of a miracle. ANYWAY, the job also sounds like an interesting one and it starts in mid-July. Hurrah! (Only now I have to call back the other jobs and say No, a task I hate hate hate.)
Because we don't have to commute by car, we are free to waste gas on the weekend like good Americans and went on a roadtrip to Virginia and the mountains thereof this weekend. Thrift stores in VA are far superior to NC for some reason and I spent some happy nostalgic hours combing the aisles. Plus, I stumbled upon the Roanoke Library annual book sale with troves of excellent hardback kids books (Zolotow, Keats, Kellogg etc.) and they charged by the inch - I stacked my many books up against a ruler and because it only measured 3 inches, it was $1.50. Awesome.
Now excuse me, I only have 7 weeks of stay at home motherhood left and the baby is whining. I don't know why - she only has her first cold and is wheezing like a broken accordion, had her latest round of shots yesterday and perhaps can see the gleam in my eye about working again...
Edited to add: I have been very cheap in the new music area lately but I splurged on 2 CD's the other day because I like my little local record store and want it to stay in business and I knew we were road tripping. I bought a Bill Withers album because 70's easy listening soul is my comfort food and also "She and Him", you know, the M. Ward/Zooey Deschanel effort. People have panned her singing and it's true, on the higher registers she reaches but I really, really enjoy this record. A reviewer referenced early 60's era Carole King and there is this element of girl-group happy pop songs with a hint of twang. Far more consistent than I thought it would be, I find myself putting it back on the minute it ends and have woken up three days in a row singing "This is Just a Test". On the music tip, does anyone listen to "all songs considered" on NPR? I get it as a podcast and enjoy what it covers - but host bob boilen - as enthusiastic and open-minded as he is - is no host at all. Please NPR, if you are truly courting the younger listener, get a host worth listening to, one as good as the music?