Rolling Stone Magazine

Seeing a post on Facebook tonight referencing a Tori Amos song from the 90s led me on a stroll down memory lane...


In Junior High I had an awesome Social Studies teacher, Mr. K. He taught us about apartheid. He showed us the U2 - Rattle and Hum video documentary. He showed us the movie, The Killing Fields. He played blues music for us. He opened my mind.

I started subscribing to Rolling Stone Magazine in 8th grade. After my subscription to Thrasher ran out. The REAL Rolling Stone magazine...you know, when it was big and awkward and floppy. I received an education from that subscription. I learned about music, the world and life in those pages.

I continued to subscribe year after year with my birthday money or saved up allowance. Between that and my annual contributions to Greenpeace and WWF, my spending cash took a major hit until started working at Edward's Apple Orchard and then Ambrogio's Pizzeria. Ahhh, Ambrogio's such good times. But that's another story. Subscribing to Rolling Stone led me to...Columbia House. You know the total con of "free" and we'll send out a card each month and all you have to do is say NO you don't want the "monthly selection". Of course we are talking about cassette tapes back then. I have such fond memories of received that first shipment of 15 cassettes. To my recollection I join and re-joined several times in order to received the "free 15" or whatever. Some of the cassettes on my very first order were:
Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining
Tori Amos - Under the Pink
Erasure -
Hothouse Flowers -

Fall Prayer

This was the "Opening Prayer" we read in unison last Sunday....I thought it was beautiful:
O God, this is a month of changes. We can feel it in the cooler air, the drop in humidity, the grey skies.
Some of us found our way back to school in this season, and we all want to learn. Let us all grow in wisdom and maturity.
Some of us are watching the harvest begin, while the gardens of others among us produce less and less. Let all our hearts produce love and kindness.
Many of us are leaving vacations behind, but God, you can keep our lives renewed by filling us with your joy and your rest.
Creative God, every year the world spins through its seasons and every year brings troubles. Steady and soothe your earth that its changes may be good changes and its struggles end in peace.
Loving God, who without change remains our steadfast friend, watch over the changes in our lives. May we stretch and grow but always and ever remain yours, in Christ. Amen.

Espresso Shot #132

I actually like working this shift. I mean seriously, its great. This post may sound like I'm high on life and drinking WAY too much coffee, but hell....that's all true.

Here's my top 10 list why working from 11:30pm until 7:30am on campus rocks:

#10 Getting up from my late-evening nap and heading out just as my husband hits the hay.....no more "I have a headache tonight". ;)

#9 Drinking a triple-shot Coconut Cappuccino at 1am and actually enjoying every sip.

#8 People watching the Undergrads is actually a trip in and of itself, especially at these hours.

#7 I feel very productive if I do ANYTHING at all while everybody else is sleeping.

#6 Coming home to my cute kids who are all ready for school and EXCITED to see me.

#5 Hugs & Kisses along with well-wishes for a great day go out to my little one and T-Dad and then they pull out.

#4 Walking my big kids leisurely to our neighborhood school and hearing about their dreams, ideas, plans for the day.

#3 Walking home and eating breakfast and crashing in my dark, cool bedroom...alone.

#2 Waking up, checking the clock...and going back to sleep...in the cool, dark bedroom...alone.

#1 Having the late-afternoon and evening with my family, after a not-so-hard day of napping.

Night 1

So I have my first night under my belt. Working the 3rd shift is like learning a foreign language. Not the actual work, it the understanding your body's internal processes (processi,pl?) I tried to sleep for a few hours before I went in and that only worked moderately well. I felt pretty good for the "busy" part of the night at work. But as the inevitable lull hit I started yawning more and more. And honestly, the 5am-7:30am part of my shift was the hardest. Seeing the sun start to brighten up the night sky around 6am was nice because it meant I was getting closer to the end of shift...but keeping my lids open was brutal. And the last hour is a partial blur, I know I didn't accomplish much. Thank goodness T-Dad went into work late today and was able to take the kiddos to school and the dentist (bad timing on that appt.) because I walked into the house and straight to my bed. I'm too old to pull all-nighters...but I guess that's gotta change.

The Night Shift

Well, I am up early in the hopes that I will be tired later. That's a funny first. Tonight is the long awaited first night of my new job working "nights". And by nights, I don't mean evening shift, or Late Evening or even late,late night. I mean 11:30 pm - 7:30 am, 5 nights in a row, every week. To be honest, I am excited. I was hired several months ago for nights but I had to work days all summer because my workplace has shortened summer hours, no night shifts. I am very grateful for this job. Having been looking for over a year for something steady, with decent pay and in my field...I know what a rare, special gift the universe has chosen to bestow upon me. And now comes the day of reckoning, the switch to night shift.
I think I will be able to adjust my sleep schedule sufficiently to make it work. I have strange sleep patterns anyway so I am hoping with some minor adjustments my patterns will fall in line with my schedule. The current plan is for me to take the big kids to school in the AM, while T-Dad takes Early Bird to daycare and goes to work himself. Then when I get back from the school drop-off, I will go to bed...in my quiet, dark (light darkening shades), cool bedroom. Waking in the late afternoon to go pick up Bug and Meely from school. Then returning home, messing around with them, preparing dinner, etc. Until T-Dad and E.B. get home. Then dinner with the fam, time for dishes or a quick game,then books andi bedtime for the kiddie and mom. If I get in a couple of hours of sleep in the evening, I think this should go go much smoother. I will wake up 45 min or so before I am due to work,get ready, and head out the door about the time T-Dad turns in for the night.

My Mom, the Style Icon: You're Looking at the Dutch Gloria Steinem

My new favorite blog...if only I had an ounce of style sense as these ladies!
My Mom, the Style Icon: You're Looking at the Dutch Gloria Steinem

Puzzle Addiction

We are totally interested in puzzles these days...Bug and Mealyworm can actually help so we're having lots of family time...

State of the Union 2011

My favorite line from tonight's State of the Union address...

"And yet, as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be, I know there isn't a person here who would trade places with any other nation on Earth."

For the full transcript check out NPR's website.