this woman’s work

You are browsing the archives from 2003 June.

The rabbi was excited for us, encouraging, promised to say lovely things and didn’t mention the “C” word!

I have an appointment with my rabbi in less than two hours to get him to fill out a form recommending us to the adoption agency. They want to hear from our (according to the paperwork) “minister” but I’m guessing a rabbi will do in a pinch.

I feel very very uncomfortable around my rabbi; I’m just not crazy about him. Noah heard me telling Brett this and the other night while we (Noah and me) were working on an art project he asked why I was dreading the visit.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I feel shy around him.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know, really. I just do. I guess maybe I think that he doesn’t like me very much. ” (and this, I didn’t bother to add, is because of our argument about circumcising you, dearest son, when you were four.)

Noah was quiet for awhile as we painted away.

“You know,” he said suddenly, “You’re really very lucky to have this rabbi.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because he’s very smart about Jewish things. If you have a Jewish question,” here Noah shrugged, “You just ask him and he probably knows the answer.”

“Thats true,” I said. “Thanks, I feel better.”

But of course it’s my rabbi’s knowledge of all things Jewish that’s the problem here. He’s going to ask about a bris for the baby we want to adopt and I’m afraid he won’t sign the paper unless I agree to it, which I won’t. I can’t.

I think I’ll just tell him that because of this issue alone (well, and the cute clothes), we’re kind of hoping for a girl. If we do get a boy, I don’t think we’ll have a say in whether he’s circumcised or not but the rabbi will want a bris if we’re going to convert him. Maybe we can find someone else (not here in town, I know) who will convert an uncircumcised adopted baby.

It’s at Punkymoms. Don’t you love it? Isn’t it so your life????

Ours is scheduled for June 26th. This is what we need to have done to pass:
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I got it from Confessions of an Organized Homemaker, which I believe was recommended on Lynn’s blog.

What you do is get one of those little plastic cabinets that people use to store their nuts and bolts and nails and things (or in my sister’s case, her rhinestones). Then you take all of your board games out of their boxes and put all the little pieces and cards and dice and put them each in their own cabinet. Sorry pieces in one drawer, Monopoly houses in another, checkers in yet another and so on and so on. Then you put all of the boards in one neat (or in the case of Trouble and Jumanji, not so neat) stack. You keep the directions in a binder (we haven’t xeroxed them for easy binder inclusion yet) and you label the boards with masking tape so they’re easy to find (haven’t done this either). I was able to collapse four dresser drawers and a cabinet of games into one drawer and the little plastic cabinet. Very nice. Highly recommended.

Of course the problem is if someone dumps the whole cabinet but since we don’t currently have a toddler in the house, I’m not too worried about it. Talk to me in a couple of years.

I’m missing Noah. I see him everyday and we hang out, read books, build with legos but I miss him anyway because no matter what we’re doing I know that very, very soon I need to come back in here and return some emails.

I like this job a lot. Really. It’s interesting and I’m learning that I like working with writers and seeing their different styles and getting to think about lots of content without having to write it all myself. I don’t think I’ll ever be a very good copyeditor but I’m surprised to find out that I do like editing. It’s confusing right now and a little scary but it’s fun, too. I don’t like jobs that are the same duties day in and day out (that’s why I liked working at the shelter) and this one is certainly ever-changing.

That said, if we didn’t need the money, I would quit this job immediately. It’s too hard to work a full-time job and be a full-time parent.
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I am so swamped. I know it’s a learning curve but I’m really overwhelmed. Brett is being fabulous (as usual) and patient (as usual) and he’s helping me figure out how to organize things. I’m really hoping that if I can nail down my system I won’t be as freaked out in a couple of weeks.

Anyone have any recommendations for a good project manager that’s Mac compatible and doesn’t cost a mint? If so, please share!

I am really busy and slightly crazed. We finally put a call out for writers for the ePregnancy web site. I’m learning a lot about query writing because I’m reading a lot of queries. (Hint to all: Do not insult the publication in first paragraph of your query in guise of trying to make yourself look indispensable. This is not endearing.) I’m totally abusing Holly, but she says she loves it.

Want the guidelines? I warn you, we don’t pay much although I think the rates are competitive for a web site. It’s pretty much what I got paid when I worked for them before the (ahem) incident. Anyway, here you go:
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Roni pointed out in her blog that only 2% of married women keep their last names when they marry. To quote Roni, “I didn’t realize I was such a freak!”

I never wanted to change my name because I’ve always been Dawn Friedman. It would be strange to change that to something else and it wasn’t important to Brett (he said it seemed strange to him, too) so I never considered it.

Noah has his dad’s last name and the next kid will, too, because that’s important to Brett’s parents and it’s not that important to me. I never really wanted to hyphenate Noah or anything. I did consider giving him my last name as his middle name but ended up giving him my mom’s maiden name instead. That felt much more meaningful to me.