5. O, the Oprah Magazine
I’ve subscribed to a lot of magazines over the years – Martha Stewart Living, Everyday Food, Cook’s Illustrated, Cook’s Country, Newsweek, Fitness, National Geographic, etc. etc. etc. But the one that I will always get is this one. Yes, the clothes are terribly expensive, but it was in this magazine I learned about the store Steve & Barry’s, where everything was under $10 (which sadly has gone out of business). It was in O that I read about Valer Austin, an amazingly rich woman who has changed the world with her philanthropy. I love that you open the cover, turn one page and then there is the table of contents – rather than having to look through twenty pages of perfume and makeup ads. I haven’t watched Oprah’s show or channel in decades, but I do love her magazine.
I just started a class with Coursera in Greek and Roman mythology. So the first week we had some videos about mythology in general, and now we’re reading this classic. I read it a decade ago when I was a student at Austin Peay State University. I had a class in World Literature and here I was, a good decade older than my classmates, and we read this and Gilgamesh and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Pretty much all of my classmates were too cool for school, having read a lot of these in high school. (I read A Separate Peace and The Old Man and the Sea when I was in high school – I’m glad it was saved until I could really appreciate it. Thanks, Mr. Blaine!) Now I’m reading The Odyssey again with a different translation (Fagles translation, where before I’d read the Fitzgerald one), and it’s just as amazing. I simply cannot wait to get to “Test of the Bow” scene!
3. Fall leaves
Image by mksfly, used under Creative Commons copyright; Available on Flickr
It’s that time of year where the air gets cooler and I’m definitely wishing we’d bought a new dryer this summer. (I put clothes on the line yesterday, but I think we’ll have to go appliance shopping this weekend.) I hope we have as mild of a winter as we had last year, though!
I came upon this Twitter feed when someone online said Honest Toddler was their form of birth control. I had to see what that was and my goodness, is it hilarious! Here are his tweets from a trip to the library:
Not participating in library story time. How will learning animal sounds make me successful.
I’m only here because I heard there would be a snack. So far no sign of refreshments.
How am I supposed to learn on an empty stomach. Librarians don’t care about anyone but themselves.
Cow says moo who care WHEN IS THE SNACK
When my brain is this hungry it can’t keep the knowledge.
Dog says woof I already knew that what’s your point
Cat says meow when are we eating
I hope we didn’t pay for story time because it’s not worth a red cent and libraries don’t keep their food promises.
Snack Time! Lining up with all my best friends I love this place!!
This lady just handed me a box of raisins and a sticker. I can’t…I just can’t.
This is so hateful. Volcano coming.
Tried to push over a bookshelf and break a chair with my teeth. On our way home.
Ate my sticker.
Enjoy cleaning up my mess library I won’t be back because I can’t trust you.
1. My kids
My kids are so. much. fun! I love hanging out with every one of them. That’s not to mean one or another or all of them don’t get on my nerves from time to time – they definitely do! But if I’ve done anything in the world, I’ve raised some pretty cool kids.
christinesturgeon 
