Could dental hygiene be in my future?

I saw on Yahoo! today an article that discussed dental hygienists making big bucks and being in high demand. On average, dental hygienists make $60K, but good ones can make $90K-$100K. All that on a two-year associates degree! I immediately asked myself if the path of the intellectual was worth it - to borrow an average dental hygienists' yearly salary in order to get a two-year master's degree to be a librarian, or in some circles, information specialist. Well, let's see. As a librarian/researcher, I don't have to look into people's mouths. I don't have to scrape their gum walls with a pick to remove unwanted plaque. I don't have to floss other people's teeth, poke metal instruments into cavities, rinse mouths out when gums bleed, or look at canker sores or other festering mouth wounds. I don't have to take orders from a dentist, who yes has had more schooling than me and gets paid quite a bit more but who doesn't do nearly as much of the work, and I don't have to worry about people spitting on me, or vomiting near me after a bad reaction to novocaine, or breathing their contagions on me. But, I would get to wear scrubs, which would mean I would have to pay less on my wardrobe and would end the tiring daily stare into my closet wondering which pair of black pants to wear today, and I would get to interact with people more, which is something I want to do. Truly. My schedule might be a little more consistent, and my working environment might be a little more manageable (How many urgent email does a hygienist get in a day? How many are glued to their Blackberry during vacation?). I would probably feel like I was giving back more to the community, and making more of an impact on the general public; oral health is very important, after all. And for someone who once dreamed of being a dentist (I always wanted to tell people, like everyone's favorite Rudolph character Hermey, "Well, sir, I'd like to be a dentist!"), being a dental hygienist may not be too far off the mark.

I'd also like to post a couple of pictures. The first here is of our newly organized kitchen. Well, newly as of a couple of weekends ago. Doug and I thought long and hard about how we could make the best use out of our (very) small space, and we decided that hanging stuff would be the best option. We have now gotten rid of one whole container for utensils and have, as you can see, hung them under the cabinets but above the island. This, along with hanging up the Dustbuster near an electrical socket and holding our oils/sprays in a container on the side of the island, were excellent ideas suggested by Cotton Mather, my husband, who now cares as much about good organization and efficient use of space as Martha Stewart, and I'm all for that.

This other photo that I'm posting is of a newly painted spice rack that I either bought from girl chris or that she gave to me after it wasn't sold in one of our tag sales. I painted it navy blue and we have hung it in our entry way at the back door. It holds all of our little trinkets that we had displayed on the kitchen window sills in the apartment. We didn't want to box them up and put them away, and we didn't want to clutter the window sills again. We also couldn't find any buyers for the spice rack on craigslist, so rather than just throw it out I decided to repurpose it, and I think it looks great. Thanks, Chris! Your spice rack enjoys its new home.