Posts (page 2)

Originally published at this woman's work. You can comment here or there.

Less than one week 'til Madison's birthday. A little more than one week 'til our 17/13 anniversary (17 years together, 13 years married). A tad past that it's the day Madison came home.

And I'm still not writing about adoption. (I keep starting posts and not finishing them.) I'm not up to it right now but maybe after her birth day is come and gone I'll feel up to it again. Then again, maybe not.

Mu sister loaned me this book, The Burning of Bridget Cleary, about a woman who was killed by her husband in 1895 in Ireland. The book uses the story to examine the huge cultural changes happening in Ireland at that time and it's really good. One of the things I learned is that infertile women were sometimes said to be "away with the fairies." And I thought, damn, that would make a great title to an infertility blog, wouldn't it?

Originally published at this woman's work. You can comment here or there.

It's raining, it's pouring and the kids are leaping into mud puddles. I still can't find my camera cord and that's a shame because they are a muddy, adorable mess.

You know, I had two target markets this year. One was Wondertime (I have something coming out there in November) and one was Slate. I really wish I had something to pitch Slate because I figure that guy's critique makes for a great addition to my otherwise generic "about you" paragraph. ("And my work has also appeared in Yoga Journal, much to your columnist's dismay.") But I don't know what to pitch 'em! Ack!

Ok, must work work work. There are lots of things I want to write about but I don't have any time and it looks like Madison is going to need a nice, warm bath with lots and lots of soap.

I know, I should be upset, should be wringing my hands but actually this article made me laugh: The hostile New Age takeover of yoga. - By Ron Rosenbaum - Slate Magazine

So just to clear things up for Ron (and other angry YJ subscribers):

• I don't have a yoga practice but was interested in writing about this topic and YJ seemed like a good market for it.


• She says it was "never romantic," and it clearly wasn't—on his part. It really wasn't -- on either side.


• So she Google-stalks him, or, as she puts it: "With the help of an Internet search engine, I tracked him down and sent an e-mail. I told him I was sorry and that I hoped we could talk." Actually I think google-stalk was in my original draft. Heh.


• Somehow one wonders if she sent the article to him, perhaps with another poem. Yeah, I didn't.

Anyway, I kinda got a kick out of being a symbol for all that is wrong with the Western take on yoga. Maybe I can get a t-shirt out of it!

Originally published at this woman's work. You can comment here or there.

It's 10:05am and I haven't even had my coffee yet.

It's a wind-blown spring day and the forsythia is just thinking about blooming. Madison knows that it's her birthday bush and she likes me to tell her the story about getting the phone call that she had been born and then stepping outside and seeing the forsythia in bloom.

Speaking of her birthday, Jessica has gone all out on the party and there are going to be a lot of people and a lot of food! (Good food, too, because you know Jessica is a really fine cook!) Yesterday Jessica called to say that she'd gotten a job where I used to work way back when -- one of my favorite jobs ever. I hope she likes it as much as I did. This place (in my experience) always made an effort to hire really good, really unique and creative people. I know she'll learn a lot there and as hard as she works, I know they're lucky to have her.

I haven't been writing about the adoption reform discussions happening because I've been too busy to sit down and think on-blog but I'm watching and reading (when I get the chance) and am always glad to see the discussion reverberating through the blogosphere.

Originally published at this woman's work. You can comment here or there.

Brett has a job on the horizon. He had a couple, actually, but after much angsting (on his part) and optimism (on my part), we decided that flexible hours are too important to accept anything else. At least if we want to put more earning responsibility on me, which we do. I feel like the more I work, the more we can live a family-centered life because it brings Brett into the picture more. Also, when I'm not cramming work into the very tiny cracks and crevices of my every day parenting, I'm a much nicer person and the kids appreciate that.

I'm stretching myself so much these days. I'm pushing the boundaries of my confidence and frankly, it's terrifying but exciting, too. I've been telecommuting for so long and it turns out there's a whole world of interesting people right in my own backyard. Who knew?

Yesterday Madison woke up and Brett was gone and she said, "Oh no, Daddy's at work! He's all alone!" I said, "No there are people who work with him; he's not alone." She said, "He has friends?" And I said, "Yup, he has friends at work." And she said, with a satisfied air, "Then he can go get a hug if he's feeling sad."

So then I sat her down for a long lecture about sexual harassment laws complete with an educational video. These days, you can never start too young.*

* I feel I must add that I'm kidding because occasional commenters wander in and display a startling level of sarcasm-impairment. It's very sad.

Originally published at this woman's work. You can comment here or there.

...make me want to fling myself in front of a bus. They're arguing with each other outside and never has a small girl sounded so screechy and never (well, at least not since my sister grew up) has an older sibling sounded so mocking.

Things my children fight about:

• Who gets the Pokemon plate at breakfast;


• Who gets Mommy and who is stuck with boring old Daddy;


• Who has the most chocolate chips in his or her cookie;


• Who gets to let the dog out;


• Who gets to feed the dog;


• Who the dog loves best.

I still think the 7-year age span between them has cut a lot of this fighting out, which means my heart goes out to you with kids closer together. Then again, if I sent the big one to school he wouldn't be around all the time to drive the little one crazy (or to be driven crazy by her).

In the interest of fair play, here are things that are very lovely about their relationship:

• When Madison gets hurt, sometimes the only thing that helps is a kiss from brother;


• And when she needs a kiss, brother is usually a flurry of concern;


• Noah is rabid about making sure she wears her helmet when riding her trike;


• Madison likes to wear clothes to match Noah and he's usually game to indulge her in this;


• They have these call-and-respone routines worked out based on books they like, music they like, or jokes they learned from the babysitter.

And as of now, they're no longer bickering out back. Thank god.

Originally published at this woman's work. You can comment here or there.

I really love the OpEd I put up this month at Literary Mama. And we've opened comments over there so please leave one of you're so inclined!!!

Originally published at this woman's work. You can comment here or there.

Maybe someday. Meeting tomorrow, meeting on Tuesday. Brett has two more weeks of work and I hope he has some time off before he has to head out into the cold, hard world again. Have I mentioned lately how much I love that man?

Kids are busy busy busy. Madison is into everything and Noah has suddenly become LOUD! They squabble like crazy then cuddle up and read books. I am alternately yelling at them to settle down or gazing at them adoringly.

And the house, she is a disaster. And the laundry, it is overflowing. Ack!

Originally published at this woman's work. You can comment here or there.

I was very happy to get it -- it was a fun one to do. This was for the job that wasn't -- the one I showed up an hour late for? I didn't get that particular job but they asked if I would freelance, which is actually a better fit for my needs/schedule. I called yesterday afternoon to say, yes, please add me to your rolodex. Then I left for (yet another) networking event and then I came home to an assignment.

Columbus, you may not know, is a fashionable little town. Because of Les Wexner, we have a lot of fashion headquarters here including his flagship, The Limited, as well as his other companies -- Victoria's Secret and Bed, Bath and Beyond -- and also Lane Bryant and Abercrombie. Most of the people I know and who I'm meeting doing corporate writing or graphic design have had some connection to one of these fashion companies. (As an aside, I've got a friend in fashion PR in NYC who says a lot of his talent comes through Columbus at some point and then at my interview one of the interviewees said that it's San Francisco, New York and Columbus -- who'da thunk?)

I was hoping to put in time to raise my skill-set, my resume and also my street cred. The job was with Lane Bryant and so last night I wrote some web copy for them. And it was fun.

I love marketing writing because you get to be so generous with similes and synonyms and twisted-up clichés. I loved doing product round-ups for ePreg full of enthusiasm and caffeine!

I think I'm going to join last night's networking meeting. It was with the local chamber of commerce and I really like the idea of being involved more with my community. Also the meeting was extremely well-attended and everyone was having a great, friendly time (I'd credit the open bar and green beer but I was told that every meeting goes that well). I was awfully tired and still fighting an ear ache so was not at the top of my game. In fact, I wouldn't even say I was at the middle of it. Still I had fun and the diet coke flowing freely at least kept me upright.

This weekend I have to do some book reviews, update next week's 100 Hats calendar and I hope hope hope to make some inroads on an essay. If I get an assignment, all the better. I don't know where this will all settle down to but I'm really enjoying the adventure of it all!