I didn’t get before pictures to go with the after, but I thought I’d stop by and let you see my new hair cut anyways.

What do you think? I’m excited because it seems like I’ve finally gotten rid of all of the perm! That was the perm that would never die… I’m definitely glad to get my straight hair back, and I’m hoping it will be much lower maintenance too. Okay, that’s bogus because I’ve done nothing but blow dry my hair and pull it into a pony tail for the last month or two. But that’s not the point. I have cute, short, STRAIGHT hair, and THAT is delightful

I think I need to start watching what I’m eating before bed… I’m not one that usually wakes up and can remember every detail of my dreams. Occasionally, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and if I really try, I can make myself remember at least some sketchy details about the scenario of the dream. Lately though, I’ve been remembering more of my dreams (which generally means I haven’t been sleeping as well) and they’ve mostly left me going “What the…”

Last week, for example, I had a dream that my boss was teaching us all math. Calculus, apparently, and I was REALLY bad at it. I had a dream that I was visiting my friend Marisa and I couldn’t get out of her house… it was never ending staircases and maze-like hallways. In another dream, Deb and I were visiting Cass and Deb had a note for the kids, which she wrapped around a toothbrush. One toothbrush, for 8 kids. And she got mad at me because I was reading the note out loud, and I wasn’t reading it word for word. I wish I could remember the URL of Cass’s website in my dream though because it was hilarious.

The latest dream takes the cake though. It was kind of like a career day at work. In my dream, everyone came to work here after they had had careers in other fields, and on this day everyone had to come in dressed like they would have for their previous job. In real life, my boss was a cop for like 30 years before he retired and moved to security. That transition makes sense. In my dream though, he was a dentist. And his “uniform” was almost like what chefs wear now– white, button up jacket, checked pants. In my dream, he was doing dental consultations out of his office for the day.

Strange, strange, strange.

I just had to come back and share a few more pictures of Killian that I took on Monday since I finally got them off my camera last night. Do you have any sales jobs? Cause I’ve got the perfect sales rep for you… seriously, could anyone say no to this face?

This was at the Memorial Day Parade, which he slept through most of. That’s why he’s so red, so don’t worry that he was all sunburnt… he was just pink from being hot, he fell asleep and got all sweaty, especially since we covered him up so he wouldn’t get sunburnt! He slept through the most exciting parts of the parade, and then woke up clapping… for a bunch of people driving cars! lol Silly boy! This is him trying to be excited and clap, despite a sippy cup in one hand and animal crackers in the other.

This picture is from our family cookout on Monday, during the only other time he sat still besides the time I told you about in my Self Portrait post. Running around in nothing other than a swim diaper because he was in and out of the little wading pool. He’s so cute, and growing up too darn fast if you ask me.

Since my check to the insurance company for a painful amount of money just cleared my bank account, I can’t help but wonder if I should have spent a little bit of time looking at auto insurance comparison to see if I could get a better deal. When it comes down to it though, even though I had to spend my entire stimulus check on my insurance, I’m not sure I could have gotten a much better deal. When I got onto my own policy a year ago, I got quotes from many, many different companies, and the company I was already with beat them all. I lost my longevity discount because the sales guy on the phone was an idiot who messed it up when moving me to a new account, but I still get a discount for my education. They just dropped about $100 dollars off of my premium at the beginning of this billing period because I had a claim fall off my record, and when I turn 25 in a couple of months, I should get another discount for FINALLY no longer being an “underage” driver. In fact, if I remember, I’ll call them right after my birthday to see if I can get a pro-rated discount for the remainder of my current policy (I pay the whole 6 months at one time to save myself a little extra money– it’s not much, but every little bit counts.) If I recall correctly, we were able to do that when I turned 21. We’ll see how that turns out, but I think the only conclusion is that car insurance is freaking expensive.

I made the mistake yesterday of agreeing to ride to a cousin’s baby shower with my grandmother (on my dad’s side). This is generally the same thing as agreeing to be held hostage for as long as she chooses. The baby shower wasn’t too bad, but then I had to be driven through a subdivision to look at a villa for sale that she doesn’t even want. Then we went to Meijer to get ant traps, but they didn’t have what she was looking for, so then it was on to CVS. I did eventually get dinner out of the deal, so I can’t complain too much. But for a baby shower that started at 3, and ended about 5:30 or so, I should’ve been able to make it home before 8:30!

All in all, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I didn’t get the usual how to lose weight, need to find a man lectures, and only one comment on how my job relates to my degree, and it remarkably didn’t even come from her. I’d like to say she’s learned that I’m not receptive to those conversations at all, but it’s more likely that she was just distracted.

Happy Sunday! Okay, I admit it, I cheated. I took this picture on Monday last week. AND it’s mostly Killian. Can you blame me? He’s just too darn cute! I was going to use the picture where he was smiling, but you could only see half of my eyeball, and I thought that would REALLY be cheating. When I snapped this picture, it was about the only 5 minutes he sat still all day… I plopped him on my lap and fed him some mandarin oranges, and little yogurt bites. He took a few drinks from the sippy cup and then he wanted DOWN. There were just too many interesting things to see and do, and his cousin’s fabulous wading pool and little tyke’s car to play with!

About Monday or so, I finally got to shut off my Santa Fe dehumidifiers too… wait. No… what I had running were regular humidifiers. Between the constant nose-blowing and the drying effects of the nasal sprays and decongestants, I had to turn my humidifier back on to try and combat the nosebleeds. I run a humidifier all winter long because when it’s too dry, I get frequent nosebleeds, but I had to get it back out thanks to this crazy allergy/sinus attack. This week though, I finally could breathe through my nose, and I’ve just been struggling with a bit of a cough that just won’t go away. It’s making me sound sicker than I am because my voice is all scratchy and hoarse. Wednesday, I was really starting to lose it… makes it kind of difficult to page people at work because you need to speak up to be heard. I sounded like a boy in puberty. It’s almost gone now, though, thank goodness. I don’t know if I could take another week of BossMan picking on my constant noises!

Edited to add: Don’t forget to check out Midlife Musings to see this week’s other participants, who probably don’t cheat as much as I do every Sunday.

How can I tell summer is officially here? I’ve cracked and turned on the air conditioning! I hold off on it as long as I possibly can, both because I enjoy having the windows open and fresh air coming in and because I enjoy the smaller electric bill from not paying to heat or cool the apartment. Unfortunately, I’m on the second floor which helps in the winter, but not so much in the summer. Add to that the fact that they don’t regulate the temperature in the hallways, and it makes it difficult to keep it cool in here without a little extra help. I only have two windows in the whole apartment, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. The bedroom window overlooks the apartment complex next door, and you can see in VERY well so I don’t open that one very often, if ever. Frankly, I just don’t wear enough clothing for that.

So even though I know several different people who are planning Orlando vacations now that the school year is ending, I’m probably through dreaming of Florida until about October. Instead, I’ll be bundled like an eskimo in the living room so that the bedroom will be cool enough to actually fall asleep. No complaints though, I was sooo ready to say goodbye to winter and hello to warm weather!