this woman’s work

You are browsing the archives from 2006 November.

And of course I’m freaking out a little bit. Madison has invited herself along but seems satisfied with getting dinner with Gram and Gramps one night instead. (It’s all good as long as Daddy doesn’t leave, too. Last weekend she confided to me that he is her “savorite” anyway.)

This backwards hotel where the conference is being held doesn’t have wifi in the rooms — only in the lobby. I’m taking my Alphasmart along for taking notes and am not sure if I’ll feel like trucking my iBook down to the lobby too often — depends on what I end up doing in the evenings because there is conference stuff ’til 9pm if people are up for it. So that’s to say I have no idea if I’ll update much or not at all.

You know, I am really looking forward to sleeping without a toddler head shoved under my arm. Ok, so maybe I’ll miss it a little, too, but I’m hoping that I’ll be sleeping too deep to notice.

Evil Mommy » Adoption Day

It’s been anticlimactic for us, so usually we don’t celebrate it. … Do you celebrate finalization/adoption day?

No, we don’t. I can’t even remember what month it was except that I know it was six months after she arrived so I guess it was Septemberish? I’d have to look it up in my blog.

The only day we celebrate is Madison’s birthday. Placement day came so soon after (72 hours) and also it was such a complicated sad/happy day. For us, so far, it’s been a day where Brett and I give solemn thanks but I don’t know what it will be to Madison as she grows. The adoption itself, it definitely seemed anticlimactic. I can see how it would be different if we had been doing foster-to-adopt and it seemed less certain but having a judge formally acknowledge our relationship was … it was just what it was.

There are two things I really remember about it:
1. Noah forgot to take off his baseball cap (and we forgot he was wearing it because he pretty much was always wearing it then) and the judge admonished him.
2. The judge was very nice but part of the ceremony was this whole thing about how Madison’s birth family had no right to her and that we were fully responsible and that we had no obligation to them from here on out. I know it was to reiterate that we couldn’t “give her back” but it bothered both of us (Brett and me). I said, “But we have a moral obligation and they have a moral right to her…”
3. He also asked if we liked her or something similar. Again, I get why and what he was doing but yuck.

Anyway, we don’t celebrate adoption day but I get why people do.

From Fuse #8!

Mark the selections you have read in bold. I changed the other rules — I italicized the ones we own.

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault
Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (Noah just read this and loved it)
The BFG by Roald Dahl
The Giver by Lois Lowry
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardine
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Erica says she has my copy maybe but I’m not sure)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary (Noah goes on kicks where he rereads all of these)
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
Basil of Baker Street, by Eve Titus
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey
Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown (We don’t have any Arthur books and I’ve only read the first one)
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Stuart Little by E. B. White id)
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (Madison is adoring this lately)
Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
The Watsons Go to Birmingham1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

There are more to go over yonder but I got most of the ones that needed to go in. I’m trying to clear my desk for the conference — I turned in one rewrite Monday morning and an article that I thought was dead went in last night. I don’t have any other assignments on the horizon other than book reviews but those come later anyway. I’m not drumming up work either.

Anyway, back to blogs. It’s amazing to see all these blogs. It’s different than regular old blog browsing because before I go and look at them I input them — categories and meta-tags, which take a long time. The rest of it is pretty easy. But the categories and meta-tags take forever even though Paige’s husband taught me how to use the CONCATENATE command. So by the time I go and look at the blogs (to grab a screenshot), I feel like I know the people writing them.

I don’t know why, but I find all these blogs out there awfully moving. There’s something so well-intentioned about blogging — people putting their stories out there and hoping people come by to read them. I happily include a lot of smaller blogs in the database (I think people are missing the boat when they think only heavy-hitting blogs matter) and so these are blogs off the beaten track of the blogosphere. But people keep writing because they have something to say.

I like looking at the various designs — there are some pretty, pretty blogs out there. I like when I catch a photo of their kids. I like their funny titles.

I like people — even when they’re virtual!

Not only did you buck up my drooping spirits but several people (notably Marsha, Baggage, Leslie, Michelle, Margie and Jennifer) wrote me off-blog with feedback and advice that has been extraordinarily helpful! We also sent off our second pitch to bloggers late last night!

I’m going to work a bit on the site this week (I leave on Thursday for Boston) to make it easier to get around — it’s also cross-posting to livejournal (here) and vox (here — still working to get cross-posting to Xanga) so if you want to keep an eye on updates and don’t use bloglines, you’ve got some other options.

Thanks everyone! I will try to keep Get Them Blogging! updates sequestered over there from here on out! I promise!