100 items on my mind

1. I should probably go to bed rather than write this,
2. but I want to write this.
3. And I already set my timer and did a chunk of work before starting.
   
4. So even though my work timer went off a half hour ago, and I wasted the last half hour reading blogs, I still want to take my reward for good behavior -- i.e. doing a chunk of work.
   
5. And my reward is writing this post.
6. In the last wasted half hour, I was reading blogs about women who had children while in grad school.
7. My child was born when I was in grad school, so I could relate.
   
8. I was the first grad student in my department ever to have a child at that time.
9. Although while I was very visibly pregnant, a young woman arrived who had been accepted to grad school there, but wondered if she could have children while a student.
10. I think seeing me all bloated and huge helped her make her decision.
11. She accepted the position and did, in fact, have a child while still a student, a few years later.
12. I have no regrets about having a child in grad school.
13. And neither do the women whose blogs I was reading.
    
14. Of course, it isn't easy.
15. On the other hand, having children isn't easy whenever you do it, whatever else happens to be in your life.
16. For me, I wanted children, and the timing was right.
17. So I did it.
18. But back to #3, the reason I had to set aside a chunk of time to work before blogging is that I am behind.
19. Who isn't?
20. In three months, I have to give six different talks to six different audiences, and only one of those talks is behind me.
    
21. That talk was last Saturday, to high school girls.
22. Friday I give my second talk, to undergraduate majors who know nothing about what I do, and my job is to explain in 25 minutes.
    
23. The next pair are each supposed to be an hour, to be held a couple weeks later.
    
24. One of those talks is to faculty directly in my subfield.
25. The other is to grad students who know a lot, but nothing about my subfield.
26. I haven't written any of these.
27. Although now I need to send in a title and summary for the grad students' talk.
28. I already sent a title and summary for the talk a few weeks after that, to faculty I would like to impress, who are undoubtedly bright, but not in my subfield.
    
29. But the biggest upcoming talk is one at a nice conference, where many famous people in my subfield will be gathered.
30. I am nervous.
31. I have been thinking about what to say for a long time.
32. Because I want to make a good impression on these famous people.
33. The other thing I need to do before giving any talks is find a babysitter.
34. Because my husband will be gone, and my son will be out of school.
35. And because all family within a 100 mile radius seems to be abandoning the state with my husband.
36. I don't even know how to find a babysitter, because we normally have family around.
    
37. I guess I'll start by calling a neighbor and seeing if we can swap play dates.
    
38. I am also behind in my teaching.
39. I have nothing prepared for my graduate class tomorrow.
40. Although I do have a vague idea of the overall topic I'd like to introduce.
41. I know it's really boring to read about all the lame job-related things I have to do.
42. But it's cathartic.
43. And I never said I was writing for you anyway.
44. I can also list lame home-related things to do. Is that less boring?
    
45. I need to give Jonathan a haircut.
46. Did you know I give haircuts at home?
47. It seems to just be easier that way.
    
48. We own all the necessary equipment.
49. I would cut Tim's hair, too, if/when he would let me.
50. Tim has not cut his hair in a long time.
    
51. It is now well past his shoulders.
52. Sometimes he wears it in a pony tail.
53. I think guys with pony tails are really attractive.
54. Or at least a pony tail somehow adds to the attractiveness.
    
55. I like my husband in a pony tail.
56. He claims he will cut it off when it gets long enough to donate.
57. However, I think he enjoys being the only male pony tail in the neighborhood.
58. But what would I know? Ask him yourself.
59. Another thing we need to do at home is dig up the front yard.
60. Our front yard is overgrown and ugly.
61. I want to redesign it, to plant pretty perennial flowers.
62. All flowers must be perennials, because I refuse to have to plant them each year.
63. The only problem is that our house faces north.
64. I've been looking at a lot of shade plants lately on the internet.
65. Do you know anything about astilbes?
66. Or lungwort? They look pretty in the catalogs.
67. Eventually we will have to do a lot of yard work in the back yard, too.
68. But for now, it is March, and as fast as the snow melts it snows again.
69. Although the snow does seem to melt.
    
70. March used to be my favorite month when I was a child.
71. Because the snow actually melted, between weeks when it fell.
    
72. I also liked to go out to the field behind our house and fly kites by myself.
73. I guess I went back there after school.
74. I wonder if I told anyone I was going?
75. I think I received significantly less supervision than my child receives.
76. That is probably because I was one of eight, and he is one of one.
77. My sister feels sorry for only children.
78. She says they grow up to be weird.
79. Probably because they are over-supervised, like my son.
    
80. But can that be a bad thing?
81. We like to supervise him as a way of being part of his life.
82. Like walking him to school.
83. The whole family gets the fresh air and exercise.
84. I don't see how that can be bad.
85. I guess we're all making up this parenting thing every step of the way anyway.
86. Going back to the gardening thoughts, our green onions grew back after the winter.
87. They spent November, December, January, and most of February buried in snow.
88. Now that it is March, and they are only buried every other week, they have grown back.
89. I snipped some off for a meal last week.
90. It was really nice to eat garden produce again.
    
91. We also let our lettuce go to seed last fall on purpose.
92. And now tiny lettuce plants are growing back.
93. I don't know if they'll get large enough to eat, or survive the March weather fluctuations,
94. but it's fun to see them there.
95. Maybe in a next life I will be a gardener.
96. I am already to number 96, which means I need to wrap up.
97. But I feel like I could go on.
98. I guess there are a lot more than 100 things on my mind today. Maybe 250. But I don't have time to write 250 items.
    
99. Tomorrow I will go back to work and start pulling all these things off my mind, onto my desk.
100. Good night.