Today, I'm bringing you sort of a different post than I normally do. I don't know why, but it's the first day of school today (*SOBS*) and I'm actually at work for 8.5 hours today. I might die. If you don't see me on twitter or facebook later, send in the paramedics, okay? Okay.
So things I care about this week:
Go. Follow. Take the challenge. Read.
2. Charity Blogging Event for CJ Redwine. Again, I don't normally do stuff like this, but I'm feeling all nostalgic about adoption. My SIL adopted a baby in February, and I've witnessed the miracle first-hand. So basically CJ is trying to adopt a child from China, and to raise money, she's asked you to give up your morning coffee (or whatever) and donate the $5 for that.
Go. Do your good deed. Pay It Forward.
3. My garden. I live in a tiny townhome, with a tiny backyard. My grass is like, four feet long because I never mow it. But about a block away, there's some common ground where a bunch of us have garden plots. I *heart* mine. I harvested 15 cucumbers, 3 mini-pumpkins, a handful of cherry tomatoes and strawberries, and well, okay. I ripped out 4 pumpkin vines, and let me tell you, my arms are scratched up. But dude! Pumpkins can really spread out...
4. Time management. Like I said, school started up again today. I'm going to have to figure out how to fit my 6-hour-a-day job into my life. And let me tell you, dragging my sorry carcass out of bed at 9 AM has come to a screeching halt.
So there. Things I care about today. What do you care about?
Good luck getting back into the swing of working. I'd so love to have the summer off.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great link about the adoption. My daughter is adopted from China and it was such a great experience. Tell your SIL to find an adoption support group where she lives. They are great resources for her and her child. I founded a group for children adopted from China in Ann Arbor and now my daughter is in an awesome group where she is mentored by a woman in her 20s who is Asian and adopted. These kind of things are so important for our kids to feel good about how they came into our families and their racial identity. I guess this is what I really care about, huh?
Good luck with your new schedule. Hey, at least you have a weekend behind you!
ReplyDeleteOh yikes. The "day" job can really interfere with thins, huh? **smile**
ReplyDeleteHang in there. You'll get the swing of the new schedule in no time.
What do I care about? Lots of things, but forefront on my mind is my co-worker's baby. Born at just 2 lbs 12 oz, the little baby has got several weeks in the NICU ahead of him.
Breaks my heart. But so far, the little sweetheart is holding steady.
Happy Friday. I'm so ready for the weekend.
Day jobs suck, but at least it sounds like you have a fulfilling one. BTW I saw that WOC article in Publishers Weekly today. Awesome! Nice to see you guys getting the props you deserve.
ReplyDeletePlease make sure to let me know if you need ANYTHING next year.
Today's guest blogger is Renae Mercado!
Yay! A fellow gardener.
ReplyDeleteI love it that your community is working unused land.
If you have sunlight, you can do some container gardens too on your little plot of land.
I care about my coffee with no bugs in it today!
ReplyDeleteWow, so many great things so early. It's almost worth it to be up this stinkin' early.
ReplyDeleteNatalie, thank you.
Christina -- yes, the weekend. Hallelujah.
Lynn, oh, how precious. I hope he continues to pack on the pounds so she can take him home soon.
Thanks, Matt! We were pretty stoked.
Maria, I usually kill everything, which is why I'm so excited the garden hasn't died yet.
Candyland, yes, coffee without bugs = the start of a good day.
YA Contemps rock! And what do I care about today...being able to tell some people I really care about how much they mean to me! Off to work...enjoy your first day.
ReplyDeleteGreat list Elana. My daughter goes back to school today. I'm a little worried about her going (1st day of middle school).
ReplyDeleteI care about this delicious and nutritious smoothie I'm slurping.
ReplyDeleteI care about my boyfriend, who is the most fantastic man I've ever met. Seriously. He's so awesome it makes me wanna puke.
I care about the fact that all of my family is alive and well.
I care about my job and am extremely grateful that I have one to support me and my extreme bookly, writerly habits.
I wish I had summers off. But why does school start so early? It should be a rule. No school until after Labor Day. I care about my novel and my garden and would love to nothing else except write and tend lettuce and herbs and peppers and melons and and, well, you know.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about the YA contemps! I have a lot of YA contemps love/envy/admiration right now.
ReplyDeleteI care about the people in the book I'm writing, almost like they're actually alive.
My dad is seriously ill, which makes me care about my whole family and everyone I love even more.
I hate this one, but I care about what people think of me. I would love it if I didn't, so if anyone knows how to get over that, let me know!
Sleep. Like you, I deeply care about sleep. School for us starts Wednesday, and I'm dreading it. I have a new high schooler, and with the bus schedule, I hereby have a 1-hour EARLIER wake-up time from here until my baby graduates high school. Shoot me now.
ReplyDeleteI love the YA contemps blog, too!!
ReplyDeleteThings I care about. Right now some friends who are going through some very difficult medical times are on my mind.
I had to go back to work/school yesterday and I don't know how I am going to fit it in, either.
ReplyDeleteAlready feeling ready to rip apart at the seams.....
Good luck with getting back to the grind. Hope the first day doesn't treat you too poorly.
ReplyDeleteOne of my nieces turns 1 today. They grow so fast!
ReplyDeleteI'm starting a new writing project out of my comfort zone, so that's exciting!
Good luck with getting yourself back into a regular routine! If anyone can make it, you can, Elana!
Your placement of "sorry carcass" is why you're one of my fave authors!
ReplyDeleteI love that you have a garden plot. If it weren't for our garden I'd probably die because I only eat green beans. Kinda.
Go you!
sorry carcass!!!! bwahahahaha! Jake starts middle school next week and he has to be there at 7:20 ish. did I mention there is no bus??? yeah. the end of summer can bite me. xo
ReplyDeleteGood luck starting the school year again. We still have a week and half before my kids start. They are ready now, though.
ReplyDeleteHang in there with getting back into the groove of things. You'll do fine. I'm off to take the Contemp YA challenge. :)
ReplyDeleteLisa ~ YA Literature Lover
I love it when my teenage daughters are not glaring at each other. (And I love the bean, fresh basi, garlic dip my DH just made.
ReplyDeletei'll be sobbing with you on monday cause that's when my kids start school.
ReplyDeleteLovely post. We adopted our daughter from China and I'm totally on-board helping someone else along that journey, so thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteI care about bedtime. Not just cause I like to snooze, but because I love the deliciousness of cuddling with the kids to read stories and chat. And bedtime in the morning is fun too. Today, my daughter jumped in and decided we'd all be a pile of meerkats, with her brother as the lookout. Good times.
Ok, I confess I dragged my sorry bod out at nine. (I did get up at 3 and 5 to pee, does that count?)
ReplyDeleteI love working in the yard too. I have a huge lavender patch and I have been harvesting and drying it. I feel really earthy and granola like. After having a office job for years it feels really good.
I will probably be volunteering/working at some local schools starting in a few weeks, keep me current with the middle schoolers.
Good luck with your new schedule. You may find you get more done, something weird about us and time management. Maybe since we have less we value it more. Have a great day, Elana!
I'm sorry you had to go back to work. It's always tough the first weeks! Your garden sounds awesome though! How cool. We have a lot of weeds in our backyard. I'm way past caring about them!
ReplyDeleteI love that my 16 yr old son(who has cross country practice at 5 AM currently--I know, only in AZ, but they gotta find the coolest time possible) said, "Hey, I'll just ride my bike." Color me happy to be still be sleeping at 5 AM in the morning!
ReplyDeleteI hear you, Elana - or in Avatar language, "I see you". I start school "officially" on Monday, but actually had to work on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Ugh. It was so hard. :-)
ReplyDeleteI care about my friend and her family so much right now. Her loss has shaken me to my core.
Thank you so much for linking to my blog! Monday is the "official" Skip A Starbucks day (with tons of cool prizes for donors) and I'm both nervous and excited about it! I really appreciate your support! :)
ReplyDeleteYou care about some lovely things. Thanks for letting us know of them.
ReplyDeleteJai
Thanks for the linkage Elana. And that's so cool about your garden! Mine was virtually nonexistent this year and I'm sad about that. I haven't yet had a successful garden and it's something I really want to be good at. Next year, though, right?
ReplyDeleteAnd what I care about? My family. My friends. My writing. Love. Life. You know the drill ;)
We had a garden when the kids were younger & the biggest benefit was they LOVE their veggies even now :)
ReplyDeletePumpkins do love to travel!
Hope your school day wasn't too bad - just teachers or kids too? It seems odd to start on a Friday.
I am so right there with you, Elana. This was the first week of school, and I feel like I've been hit by a truck. The early mornings KILL me. Ugh. Plus, I've spent less than two hours on my writing all week. Blah.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping we both adjust to the new schedule quickly. *sparkles*
I have 4 kids heading back-to-school on three different days over the next two weeks. It's persistent insanity and that, plus the day job, makes writing time near impossible. Guess I'm just saying, hang in there, sister! And, LOVE YA CONTEMPS and am looking forward to participating.
ReplyDeleteElana, I am sorry that today is your first day of school. I start back on Tuesday, so I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteOver the summer I've had no trouble filling my day with writing and social networking and yes, sleeping in and floating around in the pool.
I have no idea how I'm going to work 8 hours of a paying job into that schedule. :(
Let me know how it goes for you.
Everyone's starting to go back to school! My cousin's about to go back up to Berkeley for her senior year! Crazy! I'm dreading September when the local schools are back in because it'll add significant time to my commute, which means getting up early. I feel you on that one.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with it all! Happy weekend!
I Care About.....
ReplyDelete1) the aggrevation I had to go through today because my email address was hijacked and everyone in the webmail portal got messages saying I was mugged in London and needed money!
2) the techie from AT&T who not only ran a security check on my email address and fixed the problem, she showed me what I can do to check it in the future and stop potential &^%#@(* hackers! Oh, BTW, I had to go thru a couple of crappy techs to get to the good one. Always ask to speak to the supervisor!
3) the gains I made today for other visually impaired people (and myself) by getting my local mall to agree to better signage to find the path to the mass transit.
4) the success I had in convincing the Gen Mgr at the Hyatt in LA that not only did they make a mistake that caused my electric bill to go unpaid and accrue a $30.00 return charge, but also since they were responsible, I was entitled to the $30 charge repaid to me by the hotel. Let's hear it for girls with gumption!!!
You garden on top of everything else!?!? How do you do all of this stuff Elana!?! As always, you are our inspiration.
ReplyDeleteYour garden sounds terrific. It's so fun to have fresh veggies. Lucky for me, my hubby does all the work. I just get to enjoy the food. Good luck with the school year! I hope it's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI care about you and that wonderful heart of yours.
ReplyDeleteOh, ouch. You'll find a way to work in the day-job, don't worry.
ReplyDeleteThings I care about:
-Autistic kids. I worked with them for almost 4 years, and one of my cousins has Autism. I started a charity in Scotland (where I was living at the time) for families with autistic kids. I care about them a lot.
-Having my own kids home for another two weeks before they have to go back to school. It rocks.
-Having time to write; it's the only time I get to be more than a mom and a wife.
-My garden, and the fact that people like you live in and take advantage of communities where you can have one, too. The world needs more community gardens.
-My husband, and how he's wonderful enough to go to his job every day so that I can stay home and do my thing.
What a great post! I'm so sorry school started back up and has taken you away from us :-( I care about so much but right now I'm really grateful for my online writer community. You peeps keep me going when I want to stop and keep my spirits up when they're down.
ReplyDeleteLove... that's the whole story.
ReplyDeleteI feel the teacher pain. Started teaching again today. (In Japan we don't actually get vacations off, but at least there are no classes.) It's lunch time and I'm exhausted. Paying the bills kinda sucks!
ReplyDelete