we have ants. Huge ones, medium ones, tiny ones. They are all over the kitchen and spilling into the dining room. Every time something is picked up, three ants run from under. Last night I heard "THWACK THWACK THWACK" at 2:30 in the morning. Chris and his shoe. They infiltrated our house in the last 12 hours. A glance in the kitchen upon waking revealed a few dozen ants running around across my whole field of vision.

Unfortunately, I procrastinated all my studying and birthday cupcake making till today, but now its all about cleaning scrubbing and spraying. I don't even care about pesticide concerns right now. We are under attack.

Two concerts last week. Paul Simon at the Vic, a small club. AMAZING. He's still got it. I love him and his eclectic sounds. He really connects with the audience and all his musicians, though rather stone-faced most of the time, are multi-instrumentalists and really kept things going. I love Paul Simon. I have to admit though, that after a while, even when its great, my back just hurts from standing and I get bored and wish to move on.

Saturday we got free tickets to see Lucinda Williams. I love her songs and I love her voice. We waited through a painfully mediocre blues band and then a live auction, sucking the life out of my back and legs and attention span. When Lucinda came on, her boob was kind of hanging out and all I could think was, how can I see so much and no nipple, she is pretty old... someone should tell her to pull her shirt up ... I hope she's not embarrassed when she sees pictures later. Very distracting. But the real problem was that she was just going through the motions. Her voice was fantastic, but she was like an animatronic bear at show biz. There was no personality, no connection, she gazed above our heads, moved mechanically, she looked like maybe she was having a bad day and just trying to get through it. She needed the lyrics laid out for her. And what a weird crowd. For the first time ever, we actually left early. As soon as we stepped out the door, I was energized and thrilled to be alive. We got burgers and fries at Five Guys. I love their cool soda machines. For me, fast food hamburgers was way more fun than a sold-out concert. I just don't have the attention span for them anymore. I have to keep moving and be free.

Thank you PBS, for watching my daughter while I study maniacally in the next room.

Thank you state-mandated daycare/elementary school for watching my kids for one more week so I can study maniacally.

Thank you husband, for working four hours of overtime today and on Saturday and on Memorial Day so we might be able to pay the mortgage.

Thank you professor of Anatomy, for writing such impossibly difficult tests that I will just really have to memorize EVERYTHING about hormones and blood today.

Thank you, Local Community College, for being such an unreliable and poorly paying employer that I have been inspired again to become a nurse.

Thank you, floor nursing, for sucking so hard, that I will go on to become an NP or midwife right away and multiply my last year's wages by 10.

Thank you, endocrine system, for including so much organic chemistry that my ego leftover from the easy A in Anatomy 1 is immediately knocked down to size.

Thank you, Bob, for inspiring me to pick up my blog again ... and put off my studying just a little more.

Right brain, thank you for making creativity so easy for me.

Left brain, please WAKE UP.