I made this

photo by Abby, pizza by your's truly from a recipe by Smitten Kitchen -- someday I might even follow the recipe

shifting time

I'm a morning person. It took forever to figure that out, with it finally being a matter of realizing I don't typically get squat done in the afternoon. Living with a confirmed night owl also helped reinforce this discovery. Lately I have tried to do it all. Get up early with the kids, or to be more specific, get up early with Oliver who is the other morning person in the house, (Gah, that apple did not fall more than a few millimeters from this tree.) AND stay up too late with Mr C. This is where my twitter bio, "testing the limits of sleep deprivation", comes from. Ahem.

All this fabulous no sleep-ness is about to change in a very big way. On August 31, Oliver will have to be at school by 8:15. (For comparison, we've been taking an 8:20 bus most mornings. Sometimes 8:10 or 8:40, but usually 8:20.) Google's handy transit mapping feature tells me I have a number of options, none of them what I would call "fun." We can leave at 7:05 and get the bus that takes us right to school in time. Not bloody likely. The other options involve varying lengths of bus rides and walks, with the best one having us on a 7:25 bus and a 10 minute walk at the end. It's the shortest bus ride (about 10 minutes) but the walk isn't a short one, especially since I will have a 15 minute walk to get to work once I leave Oliver's school. It will be especially challenging in bad weather.

Another contributing factor is that I'm changing my work schedule to enable me to pick Oliver up by 4pm most days. See, tuition only takes us to 2:30. For 9 bucks he can go to the after school program until 4. That jumps to $20 if he stays longer. Not to mention the 8:15 arrival means an awfully long day for a 4 year old. Fortunately, my job is cool with the change.

Obviously my late nights are quickly coming to an end and I'm anticipating a few problems. I like reading blogs in the evening, and a few nights a week there is tv I really like. We don't have TiVO or any sort of DVR. I have a feeling Hulu and I are going to become very tight, though I have no idea when I will squeeze in actually watching the shows I am going to miss.

I'm not worried about falling asleep. Lately that has not been a problem. At.all. It's the waking up part I struggle with, especially when Oliver decides 5:45 is a fine time to ask for an update on baseball scores or to decide he's starving and can't possibly sleep any longer.

On the bright side, I am hoping to squeeze in exercise before we leave in the morning and that all that walking will contribute to some weight loss. I know I need to do more, but every bit helps, right?

If you're faced with a time shift yourself, or you just want to be an earlier riser, check out Zen Habits for some suggestions I will be trying to follow (especially the part about making getting up early a reward, not a punishment!). Hell, check out Zen Habits anyway. It's jam packed with good info. I was surprised to discover Dumb Little Man had nothing to say on this topic, though it does have a number of good articles on sleep (and is another just plain smart site).

So tell me, have you changed your sleep schedule? How did you do it?

candlesticks always make a nice gift

To badly quote Bull Durham, we're dealing with a lot of shit. Nothing major has hit the fan but there are lots of little piles contributing to the mess and the stench. Nothing I can't clean up. Eventually.

Here's a quick and dirty list of the piles making their presence felt in my little life:

Summer is nearly over. Classes start Monday. I'm not ready. Starting this job last summer in July was like trying to work with one arm tied behind my back. Now I know it doesn't make any difference. The extra month doesn't matter one little bit.

Summer is nearly over. I didn't get a vacation. The one I thought I was getting in September isn't happening either. When I think about it, there is no way it was going to be a vacation anyway. Two small children, four flights, two of those flights in the 7-8 hour range. Yeah. Not a vacation.

Summer is nearly over. No new show dog. Harrumph.

Summer is nearly over. Oliver starts pre-K in less than two weeks. It's only pre-K but it's at a real live school, the one we hope he will attend for the next 13 years (and his sister too). Ho-ly.... I was feeling a lot better about it until the magic teacher switcheroo the school played. I don't get to meet his teacher until next Friday and he starts three days later. Not feeling at all good about that. I adored the teacher we thought he would have. On the up side, there are 8 kids in the class, not the 16 we expected. A tiny little bright side effect of the economy. Very, very tiny, in the grand scheme of things. I would trade it if all my unemployed friends could have jobs and all my uninsured friends could have good, affordable health insurance.

Summer is nearly over but it's too effing hot. I know it could have been like this all summer instead of just two weeks of it. It's my blog and if I want to bitch about the heat and humidity, that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

Have I mentioned summer is nearly over? I would like to flip it the bird and send it on its way now.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Borrowed from my child rearing hero and woman of many superpowers, Mary P.

A – AVAILABLE: Not so much.
B – BIRTHDAY: Jan 23
C – CRUSHING ON: a couple of adorable 4 year olds in Oliver's class. I wonder if their parents would entertain a trade.
D – DRINK YOU LAST HAD : Coffee
E – EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: JT
F – FAVORITE SONG: Accidents Will Happen, or anything from Imperial Bedroom.
G – GUMMY BEARS OR GUMMY WORMS: If I have to choose, bears but neither one thrills me.
H – HOMETOWN: Auburn, Maine
I – IN LOVE WITH: CD
J – JUGGLE: Kids, spouse, job, dogs, house, and volunteer work. Something hits the floor and makes a mess regularly.
K – KILLED SOMEONE: Only in my dreams.
L – LONGEST CAR RIDE: Pittsburgh to Worcester, MA with a 2 year old and a 9 week old. Definitely not my idea of a good time.
M- MILKSHAKE FLAVOR: Vanilla. And don't mix any junk in with it.
N – NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: 2 of each
O – ONE WISH: An unlimited number of wishes.
P – PERSON YOU CALLED LAST: Tika
Q – QUICKIE: Yes, please.
R – REASON TO SMILE: My daughter made me smile this morning. She's adorable and silly first thing in the morning. I have usually been up more than an hour by then and am not at all adorable.
S – SONG YOU LAST HEARD: I Love Trash, the Steven Tyler version
T – TIME YOU WOKE UP: Which time? Dog got me up at 3:15, then a kid at 5:20 (to ask if about baseball scores), then the same kid at 6:15.
U – UNDERWEAR COLOR: Black but it's decidedly not the least bit interesting.
V – VEGETABLE(S): Mushrooms
W – WORST HABIT: Lateness
X – X-RAYS YOU’VE HAD: Fingers, teeth, ankles, knees. I should have been glowing before I got out of college.
Y – YOYOS ARE: fun! Pass one over. I'm not at all skilled though.
Z – ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius