I’m taking six online classes.

At first I thought, “This is going to be so easy! My school calendar is synced to my iPhone, I have the iStudiez Pro app, and my school is signed up for access to the Blackboard Mobile app. Wherever I am, I can . . . → Read More: Navigating Multiple Online Classes]]> This week the Spring school semester began.

I’m taking six online classes.

At first I thought, “This is going to be so easy! My school calendar is synced to my iPhone, I have the iStudiez Pro app, and my school is signed up for access to the Blackboard Mobile app. Wherever I am, I can post to discussion boards or otherwise keep up with my classes!”

Of course, with a tool like Blackboard, the class is only as organized as the teacher who builds the class. A late syllabus will not come any faster via excellent connectivity if the teacher has not uploaded it. So I’m refreshing my app and not a whole lot is happening and I’m wondering if this is a taste of things to come in the next 15 weeks.

My class lineup is interesting. In order to facilitate a faster graduation time I’ve transferred and changed my major to Interdisciplinary Studies. I should be done by August. So there is a required Interdisciplinary Studies class as well as two music classes (yes, I’ve been avoiding the arts like the plague) and other classes I’ll talk about when something fun or interesting comes up.

Tactile Information and Transport

I checked in on the first day of classes and printed everything available. Yes, I could just look at the assignments in Word, but I’m a note-taker. Keeping the notes on the pages is important to me. I keep those notes in tabbed manilla folders. On the folders I write down important dates for easy reference. If other notes need to go in the file, I put them on post-it notes on the inside cover of the folder.

If you are able to track everything on something like EverNote or some Borg app you’re rocking on your Mac, well, then you are cooler/younger/better than I am. I’m fine with that, I have other fabulous qualities. You know, like my ability to drink copious quantities of wine. It’s a skill, people.

Seriously, the other reason I like having it all on paper is for throwing stuff in a bag and huffing my butt to the library for some child-free study time. Sure, I could hope it’s all on my computer, or I could copy and paste it all into Google Docs, but what if I get to the computer and seven hundred things happen that mean I’m down to just my paperwork and myself. I’m going to want those folders. (Basically, I get really nervous if I don’t have something to hold on to. I’m a dinosaur like that.)

A Special Place for Books

You can’t just chuck your books anywhere or you’ll lose them. Of course that’s assuming you’re able to lose textbooks. I am. It’s happened with books so big they had to resize themselves in order to hide so completely. Once, I found a textbook in the kids’ bookshelf in their room. Really? You wanted to learn about Finite Math? Sure you did. Book stealing little monsters trying to outwit me!

Probably not, but you never know. Kids get that knowing look and  you know they’re planning something straight up evil. What? I’m paranoid? Maybe.

My books live in a special place to the right of my desk. I can swirl my office chair to the right, lean over, and swipe the book I need. As you can see, I have a few oversized, paperback books (My Favorite Kind!! *yeahright*) but I hate those books a lot less after I figured out you can pop them into a magazine holder and be done with it.

Books 0 – Me 1

The Plan (As It Stands Right Now)

My plan is to check everything on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll concentrate on homework from two classes on each of these days. With the two music classes, I’m going to break those up and marry them to an English class (I’m taking two of those, too). Then, on Fridays I’ll focus on the other two classes.

If there is a change to the syllabus, I can just shift what classes get taken care of on what days.

The Bottom Line

I’ve never had problems with online classes, but the more of them you take in any given semester the more important it is to have a plan. Sure, I could wing it and would probably do alright. I don’t know if the school I’m going to has a curve, but even without one, standards are pretty low.

Don’t get me wrong, students aren’t stupider than they were when I was young and stupid. They have more of a special snowflake (def. 2) issue than students did when I was in school, but they aren’t dumb. That being said, I do think teachers are lazier. Or more burned out. Or high. *shrug*

Are you an adult learner (or not) taking online classes? What are some of your tips and tricks?

This post is sponsored by Tempur-Pedic, the brand millions of owners trust to deliver their best night’s sleep every night. Enjoy our Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer now and give the gift of custom comfort to someone you love.

I have two holiday comforts I love.

First, the Creme Brulee . . . → Read More: Lounge Music and Snotty Coffee – 21st Century Holiday Comfort]]>

This post is sponsored by Tempur-Pedic, the brand millions of owners trust to deliver their best night’s sleep every night. Enjoy our Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer now and give the gift of custom comfort to someone you love.

I have two holiday comforts I love.

First, the Creme Brulee latte from Starbucks. It comes out on November 15th like clockwork every year and it lets me know that it’s holiday time.  It’s my very own heads-up the temperatures are going to plummet, I’m going to be able to see my breath, and I – yet again – am completely out of wrapping paper.

The second comfort is far more important.

I was on a quest for years to find holiday music I didn’t find pathetic and depressing. I know you classic holiday music lovers will disagree and say that White Christmas doesn’t make you want to drink until you pass out – but to each their own – I can’t stand slow, droning music in a minor key.

When I found the music I loved, I decided to start a new holiday tradition in our home. Fun holiday music. From Rockabilly to Lounge to Tiki to Jazz. Music that makes you grin from ear to ear thinking about the joy of the holiday season.

When I listen to holiday lounge music I sometimes forget who I am. Instead of just being an amazing wife, mother, and employee I’m suddenly Samantha from Bewitched. One of my top pics is Ultra-Lounge – Christmas Cocktails. It’s a two-CD set with lively trumpets and fun vocals. Every song reminds me how much I adore the holiday season.

To switch it up on nights so cold you think there may never be another summer again we put on Tiki music! Luau in December by King Kukulele & The Friki Tikis (best band name ever, right?) is one of the holiday albums that my kids probably love even more than I do. They try to hula every time I put it on, and it makes us all forget about the frost on the windows for a little while.

I make it a point to listen to music that is upbeat and fun, because seriously, around this time of year all I have to do if I want to become insane with deep emotion and start sobbing I can look at my kids and they look all lovingly into my eyes and all of a sudden I look like that crying jag scene in The Blair Witch Project and I’m running for the Kleenex.

My upbeat music helps guide that deep well of emotion into joy as opposed to something more meloncholy and maudlin.

Not Just for Christmas

Hanukkah lovers, don’t think I’m leaving you out, either! Kenny Ellis has an album called Hanukkah Swings! and it’s absolutely lounge-tastic.

Really, I think you should be beyond amazed at my inclusiveness. I’d pat myself on the back but I’d probably dislocate my shoulder. I’m subtle like that.

There is also an album by Lynette Washington called Long, Long Ago and it’s dubbed itself a Jazz celebration of Christmas, Chanukah & Kwanzaa. All your holidays in one fabulous place!

I only found one Yule album, and it even mentions the Yule log on one of the songs so I’m pretty sure I’m barking up the right tree with this one. It’s called A Yuletide Celebration and it’s by Kari Tauring.

Atheists? You can listen to anything because it’s just another day for you. You don’t need suggestions and if you like snarky anti-holiday music I’m sure it’s already loaded up and ready to go in your iPod.

So there you have it. A cup of snotty coffee, wonderful upbeat music, and my family are my holiday comforts. They are what make the holidays my magical, special time.

I think I’m going to go put some on right now. Probably Ultra-Lounge. There will be martinis.

I love the holidays.

I can’t really be . . . → Read More: I’m Not Feeling Very Relevant Right Now]]> All the best blogs seem to have answers to questions or stories that end with some great moral to the story. A moral or solution or answer .. like they have it all figured out but it JUST happened and thank goodness they were blogging and they solved the problem.

I can’t really be one of those blogs (or one of those bloggers) because I’m not a problem solver. Well, I am, but I don’t notice it until it’s too late and then it seems really irrelevant to share something that happened two months ago because, really, it’s not going to help anyone to know if you get a Higher One card in the mail you don’t have to activate it and you will have to put up with (what some might consider) harassing calls for a couple weeks but then they’ll send you your financial aid check for school and stop calling.

Well, maybe it will.

Perhaps the problem is that I don’t know what the relevant problems being solved in my life are. I mean, relevant to you. All my solved problems are relevant to me.

Well, I am, but I don’t think you need the heads up that if your husband puts down traps to get the mice that when one starts “eek-eeek”ing the best thing to do is sing Old McDonald’s Farm with the kids really loud so they don’t realize daddy is killing a living thing in the next room.

Now, I am trying to write and listening to Snap Judgement online. Have you heard this podcast? It’s fantastic. I love it. It’s still got that whole NPR thing going on but it’s edgier. Maybe it just seems edgy because I’m old. Maybe someone younger wouldn’t think this was edgy at all.

I wonder if I’m still relevant at all, or if I’m one of those people who think they’re relevant but really aren’t.

Do you ever wonder if you’re relevant still? It doesn’t have to be all big and “entirely” like when I’m wondering about it. Maybe just in one area. I wonder if artists wonder about their relevancy when they look for paint colors. Can a color become irrelevant?

I picture two artists in a store.

“Wow, I really did yellow.”
“Oh, didn’t you know yellow was so five years ago?”
“Really? What’s in now?”
“Celadon – tooootally celadon.”
“I hate celadon.”
“Too bad. All the relevant, real artists are using it. Have fun with yellow.”

I wonder if everyone feels irrelevant now and then.

Even more interesting – I wonder how long it lasts. When people feel irrelevant does it last five minutes, five days, ten days…or until the person comes up with something else to distract themselves?

Maybe I should keep a journal of problems I solve. From small ones to big ones. Then I could just kind of arrange them in terms of helpfulness. But for me to know what’s helpful for you, I’d have to read your mind and, sadly, that’s not part of my skillset.

So he showed us Luckie Louie.

It was crass, but it was funny and he didn’t expect the class to relate so strongly to this show.

To his credit, he totally rolled . . . → Read More: Luckie Louie in Media Class]]> An interesting thing happened in media class. Our professor wanted to show us a “bad” sitcom he found detestable.

So he showed us Luckie Louie.

It was crass, but it was funny and he didn’t expect the class to relate so strongly to this show.

To his credit, he totally rolled with it and it turned into a class conversation about how we think media influences parenting.

If you don’t mind crass humor and bad acting, you should check out the show. Have you already watched it? What did you think?

I’m so lucky a super mom who went with the girls on the field trip sent me this picture.

Adorable!

I’m looking forward to printing it out and framing it. I haven’t formed the thought that makes my breath catch when I look at it but it’s something about eagles soaring.

Or . . . → Read More: Brookfield Zoo Field Trip]]> Aw!!

I’m so lucky a super mom who went with the girls on the field trip sent me this picture.

Adorable!

I’m looking forward to printing it out and framing it. I haven’t formed the thought that makes my breath catch when I look at it but it’s something about eagles soaring.

Or something like that.

Because . . . → Read More: Hiding a Gift out of Fear (or, The Only Person Who Didn’t Realize it Was Me)]]> Since I was a kid, there is only one thing I swore I would never be. “A writer?” I would say with the snarling how-dare-you look and tone only an inexperienced kid could muster. “Sure, I’d LOVE to be in a profession that will turn me into a depressed, insane drunk. Who wouldn’t?!”

Because as it turns out I knew everything when I was 12. It’s the only excuse I have for sharing nuggets of wisdom like that with anyone who would listen. Otherwise I was just a bratty kid, and who wants to admit they were an average, bratty kid. Much better to try and convince you I was a child prodigy, right?

Ok, now that we’ve all accepted my childhood genius, I’ll get on with the story.

I’ve avoided becoming a professional writer for years. There was that year I kind of told everyone I was a professional writer. It was true. I wrote a lot and got paid for every assignment. But writing? Only in the strictest sense. It was a marketing gig involving lots of words and keywords and keyword phrases. Plus, as soon as I was able I subcontracted the hell out of the gig so I wouldn’t have to find the hundred and first way to talk about steam.

Still, I didn’t consider myself a real writer, becuase I was being paid and felt that was kind of the antithesis of what being a “real writer” was all about. Also, I thought writers only wrote about what they wanted to write about – you know, their passion – and thus this worky-work I was doing could not possibly be what people were talking about when they talked about writing.

My “not writing” has served me well at work, at home, at networking events, and now for school assignments. I am not a writer, you see, because I’m just fulfilling a requirement while I learn about this other thing. Not a writer. Not me.

Then I had this crazy idea. I asked my media professor out for coffee. He ended up turning it back around on me and buying me coffee, but that’s okay, too. We talked for a couple hours and it was fascinating and enlightening and really engaging conversation.

That’s when it happened. This person with over 10 published books, over 40 years of journalism experience, and a completely no-holds-barred love of honesty flat out told me I have a gift for writing.

Well, crap.

I can’t be a writer, I say, because they’re all poor and depressed and drunk…except you, of course. (See that use of language, where I totally insulted him but then took it all back at the end. That is considered super-classy by writers. It’s not backpedaling or just trying to cover your butt. It’s technique.)

He said something along the lines of: Writers have been doing paid gigs they hate from the beginning of time. All writers hate their work and think it’s crap because they know they could have done better.

Surprise! I had NOTHING to say to that. He did that thing where a very intuitive person reaches into your head and shuts your argumentative butt down before you have the chance to even get out the first whiny word.

While I am a big fan of doing that thing to strangers on the street or people I don’t know very well, I don’t remember the last time someone did that to me. It was humbling, to say the least. Part of me wanted to wring his neck (just a little, I swear) but we put that part back in the steel cage in my head where he lives a highly pretend-medicated existance.

Stop being scared, he said. Stop attaching your work to your ego. Realize your work exists for its own sake and not for the love of others.

Oh wow. Yes. THAT.

See, I may hate writing, but I hate not writing even more. It’s why my blog hasn’t gone totally out of existance since I started it in 2003. It’s why, even though I have complained about writing since the day you’ve known me, I can’t seem to stop. “It’s just for work,” I say, “It’s a necessary evil,” I explain. But what really remains is that if I didn’t want a job where writing was necessary, I could get another job.

Instead of lying to myself about why I write I’m going to just keep writing.

Because this hodgepodge mess of me talking to you here like you’re sitting across from me at the Starbucks? Yeah, I found out that’s called “writing style” and it takes years to develop and getting rid of it would be a very. bad. idea.

So I choose to avoid the very. bad. idea. and stick with the writing. I don’t know exactly what will happen from this point forward, but I’m going to own it and sashay with it and see what happens.

The downside to all of this was when he told me that academic writing is not compatible with my style of writing. At all. That is worrying, to say the least.

Tell me, what’s your gift? Are you honoring it or hiding it and choosing to do other things you’re less afraid of? I’m just curious if this happens to other artists, any non-artists.

But most people wouldn’t think so . . . → Read More: Using Democratic Socialist in a Sentence (or Condorcet and the Gray Area)]]> It’s tough to use Democratic Socalist in a sentence. Mostly because there are these super-specific terms for certain mixes of conservative beliefs and liberal beliefs. Democratic Socalists aren’t really socialists, they’re a mix of beliefs that are slightly right of center and left of center. It’s a mix.

But most people wouldn’t think so because socialist is a powerful word that brings an instant reaction from anyone who knows what the word means.

Democratic Socailism was first introduced – as far as I know – by Condorcet. I highly recommend reading him, because when you look at Marx and Malthus you start to get a hold of some really different economic and philosophical opinions and see where the intersections are, too.

I like a lot of what Condorcet believes. Here are a couple examples that sound kind of awesome:

1. Free trade is good…unless it isn’t.
2. Young people should have access to venture capital for good ideas.

The biggest problem with Condorcet is it doesn’t take into account that there are always people who will try to game the system instead of following the rules. Then there’s always someone who takes it too far and it becomes news. Then the whole thing falls apart.

Actually, let me backtrack for a moment. It’s bigger than the few people who believe taking advantage is the only way to get a piece of the pie. It’s about the gray area.

Free trade is great except when it isn’t is a totally fair philosophy. It makes sense and I think we can all look at the system and point out instances where free trade works beautifully and other areas where it could really benefit to have government regulation in place.

The problem? Your examples will probably be different than mine. Even if we have some examples in common, I bet we could find people – pretty easily – who have lists totally different than ours. When you implement a theory that has gray areas like that it becomes clear pretty quickly that the person who gets to make that choice is suddenly a target.

A target for bribes, favors, help, information…they suddenly gain too much power. Even if it was a committee, how big would the committee have to be in order to fairly represent the views of the people of the country? Once it gets big enough decisions don’t get made on what’s best, but on the concept of what is least worst.

The gray areas are where all of us live, because we all have different lives that brought us to different decisions and those decisions and life choices and experiences are what shape our beliefs. We see things that work for us and we think it will work for others. The problem is a country full of people who think that what works for them will work for others…doesn’t work.

If you’re interested, here’s a link to the Tenth Epoch of Condorcet’s Future Progress of Man. It’s the last chapter and has a lot of good stuff in there. Enjoy!

Thanks to Walgreens for underwriting this post. I was paid as a member of the Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all mine. Visit http://moms.dailybuzz.com/channel/style.

Summer Lovin’ … happened so fast … Summer Lovin’ … had me a blast …

But now Fall is creeping in and my dry, super-sensitive . . . → Read More: Falling in Love with my Skin (or Oh, My Abrasive, Flaky Love!)]]>

Thanks to Walgreens for underwriting this post. I was paid as a member of the Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all mine. Visit http://moms.dailybuzz.com/channel/style.

Summer Lovin’ … happened so fast …
Summer Lovin’ … had me a blast …

But now Fall is creeping in and my dry, super-sensitive skin is starting to sing less like the Broadway musical version of Greast and more like those low pitched chanting monks.There is a sense of impending doom in the air, and my skin knows it.

But I’ve found a solution for my skin. Hopefully, my skin trick can help you if you’re suffering from wicked-dry skin, too!

I’ve been skeeved out by how slick baby oil is since I was a kid. “On your SKIN?!” I would howl to my grandmother when she told me she used it in the shower. It never dawned on me she never felt as slick and greasy as the oil did on my fingertips, not until later.

One particularly nasty winter I was pregnant and my tummy skin was stretched out and itchy and I couldn’t sleep and I thought I was going to die of sheer annoyance. I sent my husband out to Walgreens to pick up baby oil. I figured it worked for grams, it was worth a shot. I hopped in the shower, did the shower thing, and at the end absolutly doused myself with the stuff from the top of my neck to the tips of my toes. The water started to bead on my skin and I knew it was doing it’s thing.

I kind of stood outside the shower and let myself mostly air-dry at that point. Rubbing a towel on my baby oil soaked skin didn’t seem like a good idea. I threw on my robe and slippers and went to get the hubby’s opinion. I held out an arm and said, “Feel.” He touched my arm and looked surprised. “It’s so soft. What did you do?” Baby oil, I said.

He looked horrified. (He has the opposite of dry skin. I’m pretty sure if baby oil touched his skin he would turn into a puddle of butter on the floor, so I understood his reaction.)

The best part was the softness lasted all day. No lotion touch-ups were necessary. The best part? Baby oil is way inexpensive. You can even get it in gel form if you don’t want to just randomly squirt it all over the place and require a little more control over your shower product.

It’s my bestest beauty secret in the world. It keeps my skin looking beautiful and it keeps me from scratching my itchy, dry skin until it bleeds. Definitely a win-win.

One note of caution: Use a bath mat!! Baby oil will make your bathtub slick and potentially dangerous. Also, make sure anyone who bathes or showers after you uses a bath mat, too.

Other than that, if you try it out, let me know! I’m looking foward to a pain-free-skin Fall, and hope you’ll join me. (Or, if you have your own beauty tips for skin, share them!)

Thank you to Walgreens for sponsoring this blog post. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.