DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge

3 Comments / Community Chest, Daily Dose, Family Funk, Kid Talk /

You may have noticed the new widget in my sidebar, or maybe you saw my post on BlogHer on Wednesday? The DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge stuff? Maybe I even sent you an email about it?

Don’t pretend like you haven’t heard about this. You have. Now it’s time for you to DONATE and BLOG about it yourself. Or maybe even created your own giving page for the challenge.

I created a giving page that features five projects, from five schools, from five cities where our kids have gone to school.

There’s a school in Fairfield California. Jenn and Chris both went to school there.
There’s a school in Burlington NJ. The actual school Jenn graduated from.
There’s a school in Anderson SC. The actual school Michelle attended.
There’s a school in Gainesville Fl. The actual middle school Michelle got suspended from – twice. Hah.
There’s a school in Evanston Il. Prince J, RJ and Liz attended Evanston schools now.

Donate – even $1 will help these classrooms, these teachers, these kids. And in most cases, kids who attend those schools in years to come.

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The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Pox Party

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

Darn “Now Reading” plug in is not finding books automatically so I have to enter each one and it’s driving me nuts. Boo, I hate it when a plug in stops working.

Back to Octavian Nothing: Pox Party – MT Anderson is excellent, as usual. A little wordy for a YA novel but I think it’s important to BE wordy when you’re talking about these types of experiments. I was a wee bit depressed to have predicted the direction the experiment would take when the “College” landed in financial trouble. Blah.

Considering just how many books I’ve read about slavery… it’s refreshing to see something just a little new and a little different. Now to find time to read the next one.

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links for 2008-10-01

Daily Dose /
  • Eight Year Old Girl With Anorexia Stalked By Paparazzi | BlogHer
    Shortly after her eighth birthday, Dana’s eating habits changed. At first she ate a bit less. Then she gave up sweets and then junk food. But soon she was eating so little that her parents had her admitted to a pediatric ward. Then she is admitted to Rhodes Farm Clinic for a 12 week treatment program…where she was stalked by cameras tracking her recovery. What’s wrong with this picture?
    (tags: eatingdisorders paparazzi news reporters privacy kids)
  • Optimism, Pessimism or Realism: How Do You Look At The Economy? | BlogHer
    I think I cycle through the three states. At times I am optimistic that for all our faults, problems, mistakes and folly – the American experiment, still young, remains resilient and we will make our way through. At other times my cynicism about the havoc wreaked by politicians of both parties in cahoots with greedy corporate overlords and the dire straights we as citizens have allowed them to put us in by not exercising our right to provide oversight means that we deserve every ounce of hurt that is coming our way. Neither view, however, is realistic or terribly helpful so I too try to chart a middle path. This is a wake up call that we must all work harder to be involved, to understand the situation, to push our representatives to act in our interest and to prepare to deal with the real consequences of what's ahead.
    (tags: economy optimism pessimism realism)
  • In Search of Cinematic Spinsters and Unmarried Women | BlogHer
    I never intended to be a Spinster. I thought that I would get married. I never for a second thought of myself in the image of an "Old Maid." Hair in a bun, sucked up cheeks and bifocals. I'm older and a wee bit wiser. I have removed the last of the illusions of finding Mr. Right or "the one and only." I have even moved pass finding a somebody to love. I accept that it may or may not happen.
    (tags: spinsters unmarriedwomen movies)

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1 Comment / Daily Dose /

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The Earth, My Butt, and other Big Round Things

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

I finished The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, as part of my personal Prinz Award Challenge and of course, it’s been banned. Happy Banned Books Week.
Based on what I know about challenged and banned books, it makes sense.

This is a very difficult book to read – I’ve eaten non-stop while reading it. Every time Virginia eats a piece of lettuce or hurts herself, I feel the urge to eat. Weird.

Good book, but very difficult.

Loved the Ani references. The only thing I didn’t like was Virginia’s list at the end. It didn’t seem quite Virginia-like.

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Cursing my mother…sort of

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Family Funk, Friends & Family, Kid Talk, Memories /

Liz has this thing for the vinyl record player. She constantly turns it on. Constantly. Drives me insane when I’m trying to work.

Today, she turned it on and somehow Barry Manilow (Or Barry Man-hole-cover as my brother and I used to call him when we were kids) came on. Aye yi yi. I’m now cursing my mother for giving us all of her albums.

It’s very troubling to me that I know every damn word to every damn song. Also troubling because I have some burning desire to find a couple of decks of cards and play canasta or kings on the corner.

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It’s official

1 Comment / Books in Bed, Daily Dose, Day to Day, Library /

Last week TW and I went to the Illinois DMV in Niles and got our Illinois drivers licenses. We had to take a damn written test. And when I say written test, I mean written – as in using a paper and pen. No computer generated tests for us here in the big city suburbs, sheesh. TW missed two multiple choice questions and I missed two road signs. Thank goodness we didn’t have to take the threatened driving test (Threatened because the Illinois DMV info says “possibly a driving test”.)

We walked out with our new licenses and felt a little ill about the whole thing.

To shake off that queasy feeling of being “official” Illinois residents, later the same day we went to the Glenview Public Library and got our new library cards. Having those in our wallets really does make our residency here official. And, it makes us feel like we’re settled (even with boxes still left to unpack.)

I’ve got YA books for the Printz Award challenge waiting for me to pick up at our new library. TW has a pile of books by her bedside and the pressure of having to read most of them within seven days due to a less than liberal check out policy. I can now happily check my library account every day like I used to do in Gainesville. Life is more normal now than it has been for months.

Yay for normal. Thank GOD for libraries.

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links for 2008-09-26

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