Yes, there is trouble in my paradise of free mornings while my angelic little tyke is at preschool. The course my husband teaches got cancelled (damn economy, it was only a matter of time before our family was impacted), so I’m going to be looking for work.

Which led me to wonder: what exactly can I do?

• write stories (good ones, sometimes)
• read lots of books, and read fast
• bake chocolate chip cookies
• consume vast quantities of chocolate chip cookies
• critique and edit manuscripts
• complain about my messy house
• shush a three-year-old until she finally decides to go to sleep for the night
• I can totally make friends with cats (just ask my neighbor’s cats – they fell in love with me today when I was locked out of my house…long story)
• teach English
• arrange coffee dates with friends
• compose lullabies (and check dictionary.com when for the millionth time I cannot be sure of how to spell “lullabies” – turns out I was right the first time)
• write endlessly about myself (last I checked, there was not much of a market for memoirs of people who haven’t really done anything unusual or groundbreaking)
• speak some Spanish, less French
• type a gazillion words per minute
• wear stylish new reading glasses
• realize when the list is getting boring, and stop a few bullets after that point.

shamlessly advertising me, in my stylish new reading glasses, doing some scholarly lip-pursing

So if anyone out there wants to pay me to do any of those things, well, I’m your girl. Available in the mornings, during not-so-quiet play time, and after eight p.m.