Advent begins today! I spent part of meeting for worship with the children's religious ed group, where we talked a bit about Advent and lit the first candle in an Advent wreath. Very minimal ritual, just Ellie lighting the candle and saying "I light the candle of Hope" in a rather dramatic voice (she's very fourteen), followed by silent worship.
I'm full of hope for many things. For our adoption process, of course; for a F/friend and her husband expecting her first child; for improvement in our economy and environment; for my new job starting in January.
We've been preparing for the holidays in our new home. Ken struggled with our database of addresses for sending out our holiday letters. I put up the tree and ornaments, listening to my beloved Cambridge Singers performing some lesser-known traditional Christmas carols ("What Is This Lovely Fragrance?," "Quittez, Pasteurs," and "Still, Still, Still," to name just a few.)
Ivan has not discovered the tree, (non-breakable) ornaments, or Nativity figures. Yet. Last year he knocked over St. Joseph once, then left everything alone.
Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Festivus preparations to all!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
A New Job!!
Well...I've accepted a new job. Sent in my resignation letter Monday at my current beloved but oh-so-very-far-from-my-new-home job.
So, starting January 5, I will be the head children's librarian at the Silver Spring Branch Library, in a new public library system that's only 1/3 of my current hideous commute away. And I'm making more money for roughly the same level of responsibility and probably a busier workday.
I didn't post anything before,because some bureaucratic bits had to be done, and I wanted to meet my future boss before saying "yes" as a bad boss can wreck one's job satisfaction no end. Thursday the bits were done, and when I got home that night there was a message from my new manager. He invited me to meet my coworkers and get an introduction to the community by taking part in the city's parade Saturday morning if I was interested.
I thought it would be a good way to meet him and my coworkers--and it was. Got there at 8am in freezing weather. We were all wrapped up in coats and hats, except for the staff members dressed in costume: Mother Goose (a children's librarian, very friendly and dedicated), the Big Bad Wolf (senior librarian), Red Riding Hood (library aide). Other staff, Friends of the Library and their assorted children were there (many of the kids wore their Halloween costumes). It was a great way to meet everyone: riding to our parade staging site in the Bookmobile, helping to finish up the float (the flannelboard animals kept falling off the flannelboards attached to the back of our float wagon), eating muffins and donuts, trying to keep warm, figuring out how to hang the sign with a teen shelving assistant (Josh and I hit it off almost instantly), and then parading down the street, passing out bookmarks and hearing enthusiastic shouts of "It's the Library!" Talk about community culture--we marched behind a Latin dance group and in front of a high-school band. Other cultural, community support, school and oh, all kinds of groups took part.
Back at the branch, I got an impromptu tour and was invited to share some of birthday cake, chocolate treats and heated cider (it was the manager's birthday) . Then I talked a bit with my future coworkers about practical stuff, including the weekly schedule and an upcoming program in Februrary (this with "Mother Goose"). I think I'm really going to like it there. Though I have a ton to learn--when I first browsed through the nonfiction section, I realized, "omigosh, I'm going to have to learn what their weeding policies are!" ("Weeding" is when you take items out of a library because they're outdated, not getting checked out, too battered, or otherwise no longer "right" for the library). But overall, I'm a lot less nervous having spent some time doing things (not just talking!) with everyone.
So, starting January 5, I will be the head children's librarian at the Silver Spring Branch Library, in a new public library system that's only 1/3 of my current hideous commute away. And I'm making more money for roughly the same level of responsibility and probably a busier workday.
I didn't post anything before,because some bureaucratic bits had to be done, and I wanted to meet my future boss before saying "yes" as a bad boss can wreck one's job satisfaction no end. Thursday the bits were done, and when I got home that night there was a message from my new manager. He invited me to meet my coworkers and get an introduction to the community by taking part in the city's parade Saturday morning if I was interested.
I thought it would be a good way to meet him and my coworkers--and it was. Got there at 8am in freezing weather. We were all wrapped up in coats and hats, except for the staff members dressed in costume: Mother Goose (a children's librarian, very friendly and dedicated), the Big Bad Wolf (senior librarian), Red Riding Hood (library aide). Other staff, Friends of the Library and their assorted children were there (many of the kids wore their Halloween costumes). It was a great way to meet everyone: riding to our parade staging site in the Bookmobile, helping to finish up the float (the flannelboard animals kept falling off the flannelboards attached to the back of our float wagon), eating muffins and donuts, trying to keep warm, figuring out how to hang the sign with a teen shelving assistant (Josh and I hit it off almost instantly), and then parading down the street, passing out bookmarks and hearing enthusiastic shouts of "It's the Library!" Talk about community culture--we marched behind a Latin dance group and in front of a high-school band. Other cultural, community support, school and oh, all kinds of groups took part.
Back at the branch, I got an impromptu tour and was invited to share some of birthday cake, chocolate treats and heated cider (it was the manager's birthday) . Then I talked a bit with my future coworkers about practical stuff, including the weekly schedule and an upcoming program in Februrary (this with "Mother Goose"). I think I'm really going to like it there. Though I have a ton to learn--when I first browsed through the nonfiction section, I realized, "omigosh, I'm going to have to learn what their weeding policies are!" ("Weeding" is when you take items out of a library because they're outdated, not getting checked out, too battered, or otherwise no longer "right" for the library). But overall, I'm a lot less nervous having spent some time doing things (not just talking!) with everyone.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The News from Lake Greenbelt
First off, we had snow flurries on and off most of Tuesday afternoon. Pretty! And it's gotten cold. We're learning our living room has some insulation issues. We definitely need to get a good storm door for the gardenside door this weekend!
Tuesday night we went to information night with "our" agency. The presentation was by the director of the infant domestic adoption program. This is the same person who sent the abrupt and upsetting email we got this spring about the huge increase in would-be domestic infant adoptive parents and how much harder it would be (and how much harder we'd have to work) to adopt.
We were not impressed with her. The information night was billed as being for all 3 programs (domestic infant, domestic school-age child and international) and running from 7 to 9 pm. She focused mostly on domestic infant, barely covered international (the main reason we were going) and closed everything down at 8:15 saying she "had to be somewhere at 8:30). Plus she put a rather negative spin on being able to adopt. She could have been more encouraging without actually lying.
The good news: there are still babies to adopt. We met many wonderful prospective parents (it's heartening just to be in a room with other couples and singles in the same boat we are). Plus a lovely couple who recently moved from Massachusetts who brought their 5-year-old son. They'd adopted him from Ukraine through a New-England based agency that was fantastic. I got the name of their agency (since we're encouraged to connect with agencies outside our area to broaden the "available birthparent pool") and gave them my email and our phone number. I loved hearing their adoption story and chatting with them.
Our plan: I'm going to call the international adoption director with my questions about Bulgaria to see if that might be a better option for us. We can't swap to the other agency we liked (I just called this morning) without doing an entirely new homestudy (expensive and a real pain in the rear!)
I'm still in the process about a possible (now likely) new job closer to home (more if it goes through; I should know by early next week).
We'll be having a Quaker Thanksgiving again, at F/friends' home with people from our meeting. We're bringing the acorn squash.
We should be with my family for Christmas Eve (and yes, I'll bring the hummous!), driving to Vermont on Christmas morning to spend some time with Ken's family.
That's the news from Lake Greenbelt, where the women are strong, the men are good looking (Ken lost 15 pounds in the last couple of months!) and the kitty cat is waaaay above average.
Tuesday night we went to information night with "our" agency. The presentation was by the director of the infant domestic adoption program. This is the same person who sent the abrupt and upsetting email we got this spring about the huge increase in would-be domestic infant adoptive parents and how much harder it would be (and how much harder we'd have to work) to adopt.
We were not impressed with her. The information night was billed as being for all 3 programs (domestic infant, domestic school-age child and international) and running from 7 to 9 pm. She focused mostly on domestic infant, barely covered international (the main reason we were going) and closed everything down at 8:15 saying she "had to be somewhere at 8:30). Plus she put a rather negative spin on being able to adopt. She could have been more encouraging without actually lying.
The good news: there are still babies to adopt. We met many wonderful prospective parents (it's heartening just to be in a room with other couples and singles in the same boat we are). Plus a lovely couple who recently moved from Massachusetts who brought their 5-year-old son. They'd adopted him from Ukraine through a New-England based agency that was fantastic. I got the name of their agency (since we're encouraged to connect with agencies outside our area to broaden the "available birthparent pool") and gave them my email and our phone number. I loved hearing their adoption story and chatting with them.
Our plan: I'm going to call the international adoption director with my questions about Bulgaria to see if that might be a better option for us. We can't swap to the other agency we liked (I just called this morning) without doing an entirely new homestudy (expensive and a real pain in the rear!)
I'm still in the process about a possible (now likely) new job closer to home (more if it goes through; I should know by early next week).
We'll be having a Quaker Thanksgiving again, at F/friends' home with people from our meeting. We're bringing the acorn squash.
We should be with my family for Christmas Eve (and yes, I'll bring the hummous!), driving to Vermont on Christmas morning to spend some time with Ken's family.
That's the news from Lake Greenbelt, where the women are strong, the men are good looking (Ken lost 15 pounds in the last couple of months!) and the kitty cat is waaaay above average.
If you think the media is hiding things from you, you're right...
Here are 25 stories neither the "conservative" nor the "liberal" media covered. And it's not just political--check out #23.
Yes, citations to support each story are included at the bottom of each one.
Thanks to my new online friend Patricia for emailing this to me!
Yes, citations to support each story are included at the bottom of each one.
Thanks to my new online friend Patricia for emailing this to me!
Friday, November 14, 2008
I've been thoroughly birthday'd!!
Everyone has been awesome!
It started Monday, when I got a box in the mail from Tom Z. He gave me a book (big surprise): Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul. Plus two other books that he'd intended to bring up as host gifts when he visited.
Tuesday I got a card from my Mom and Dad with a most generous check. I already spent part of it on a fashionable blue bamboo-and-organic-cotton dress at the Green Festival. (Picture to come...) Today or tomorrow I'm planning on hitting Behnke's for their sale (winter pansies!) And of course I'll be placing a manga order with Amazon.com.
Wednesday my coworker Annette, who'd got my name in our birthday/holiday drawing at work, hosted my birthday celebration at work. I got a chocolate angel-food cake with whipped cream (low-fat and yummy), a card, and several little gifts. The most amazing was peppermint starlights: 385 of them!! I put some in my dish at work, some in Barbara's "free for all" dish, and some in my purse. The rest are stowed in the kitchen. Boy are they heavy!
Yesterday I got a card from Ken's Mom and Dad with a lovely Macy's gift certificate. I'm going there too, of course, for clothes shopping. Then, it being our anniversary, Ken and I had a lovely dinner at the 104th Aero Squadron (a restaurant my mom and dad discovered when they visited). I suggested, and he agreed, that we'll buy a solar and/or gravity-operated waterfall pump for our mini-pond as a mutual anniversary gift. Ecological and beautiful.
I spent my actual birthday driving all the way up to Roseland (east of Baltimore) to co-coordinate an all-day program on teen services for libraries. Specially for my birthday the traffic up was not horrible and drivers were not over-aggressive (not so good on the way home, which was during rush hour). The workshop was excellent--I learned a lot, especially from the experienced, funny, and gifted presenter on teen reluctant reader and great books to suggest (or leave around the teen section for them to "discover" and devour).
Ken had to work late at a special presentation, so I got home, popped in a soy-cheese pizza, and ate that and a slice of my angel-food cake with dark-chocolate sorbet while Ivan snuggled and then chased a hapless cricket around the room.
And this morning I got an email from Bev, our adoption-homestudy social worker, that she sent in her homestudy write-up on my birthday!! What a welcome and long-awaited gift!
An amazon.com box from Ken is forthcoming. So is my birthday dinner!
It started Monday, when I got a box in the mail from Tom Z. He gave me a book (big surprise): Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul. Plus two other books that he'd intended to bring up as host gifts when he visited.
Tuesday I got a card from my Mom and Dad with a most generous check. I already spent part of it on a fashionable blue bamboo-and-organic-cotton dress at the Green Festival. (Picture to come...) Today or tomorrow I'm planning on hitting Behnke's for their sale (winter pansies!) And of course I'll be placing a manga order with Amazon.com.
Wednesday my coworker Annette, who'd got my name in our birthday/holiday drawing at work, hosted my birthday celebration at work. I got a chocolate angel-food cake with whipped cream (low-fat and yummy), a card, and several little gifts. The most amazing was peppermint starlights: 385 of them!! I put some in my dish at work, some in Barbara's "free for all" dish, and some in my purse. The rest are stowed in the kitchen. Boy are they heavy!
Yesterday I got a card from Ken's Mom and Dad with a lovely Macy's gift certificate. I'm going there too, of course, for clothes shopping. Then, it being our anniversary, Ken and I had a lovely dinner at the 104th Aero Squadron (a restaurant my mom and dad discovered when they visited). I suggested, and he agreed, that we'll buy a solar and/or gravity-operated waterfall pump for our mini-pond as a mutual anniversary gift. Ecological and beautiful.
I spent my actual birthday driving all the way up to Roseland (east of Baltimore) to co-coordinate an all-day program on teen services for libraries. Specially for my birthday the traffic up was not horrible and drivers were not over-aggressive (not so good on the way home, which was during rush hour). The workshop was excellent--I learned a lot, especially from the experienced, funny, and gifted presenter on teen reluctant reader and great books to suggest (or leave around the teen section for them to "discover" and devour).
Ken had to work late at a special presentation, so I got home, popped in a soy-cheese pizza, and ate that and a slice of my angel-food cake with dark-chocolate sorbet while Ivan snuggled and then chased a hapless cricket around the room.
And this morning I got an email from Bev, our adoption-homestudy social worker, that she sent in her homestudy write-up on my birthday!! What a welcome and long-awaited gift!
An amazon.com box from Ken is forthcoming. So is my birthday dinner!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
lolcats strike again!
As I keep telling all of you, Russian Blue cats are brilliant....
more animals
Caption is cut off: it reads (in plain English): More light please... and hand me wrench.
Dad, you need an assistant mechanic? We can bring up Ivan at Christmastime....
Maybe I should get Ivan to balance my checkbook and manage my mutual funds. He is quite at home in front of the computer already.
more animals
Caption is cut off: it reads (in plain English): More light please... and hand me wrench.
Dad, you need an assistant mechanic? We can bring up Ivan at Christmastime....
Maybe I should get Ivan to balance my checkbook and manage my mutual funds. He is quite at home in front of the computer already.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Done!
We finally finished our adoption homestudy revisions paperwork last night. I dropped off the papers at the agency (a 15-min. drive from our home via the Beltway, which I actually drove on for 5 miles: go me!)
Whew! Now we wait to see if our homestudy is approved.
Meanwhile, we're going to an international-adoption information night because we qualify for adoption from Bulgaria. We may be able to be in both the domestic and international programs at the same time and get whatever child comese first. We'll see if it's a good idea...
Whew! Now we wait to see if our homestudy is approved.
Meanwhile, we're going to an international-adoption information night because we qualify for adoption from Bulgaria. We may be able to be in both the domestic and international programs at the same time and get whatever child comese first. We'll see if it's a good idea...
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