Friday, November 17, 2006

Rejected

I'm feeling rejected. I write a little column on organization for our local monthly entertainment newspaper. The newspaper was just bought by the weekly newspaper that's trying to provide an "alternative to the daily paper. Got that?

So, anyway, the new editor emailed everyone, threatened to not publish if articles were submitted electronically by the 16th of the month. Oh, and include all your contact info and an invoice because apparently the previous owners neglected little details like phone numbers and reimbursement rates.

Well, that wasn't too hard for moi since I do this for free in exchange for a business tag line at the end of the article. So I emailed in my submission electronically (I'm guessing all the other writers submitted their stories written on the back of diner napkins), only to receive this reply:

Thanks for the submission. Your piece has a nice holiday tie-in so we will be able to use it. However, we are trying to focus on entertainment related topic. Thus, future submissions should have some kind of entertainment tie-in.

Tell me what you think of this either by email reply or by calling.

So tell me dear readers, exactly how entertaining do you find organization?

Perhaps I could write an article along the lines of : "The local Nutcracker production was really great and the progam was organized very well."

Or maybe: "This weeks movie can't be enjoyed without a trip to the concession stand where you'll notice the great organization of the candy display."

Hmmm. So I'm thinkin' I'm out of a free gig. Darn!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Update

Since I've been personally emailed twice in the last 48 hours by my faithful blog readers, I am starting to get the hint that I need to actually post!

So how are things going? AV and I are doing great. The social worker came about two weeks ago and talked to AV about guardianship, what that meant and that I would be her guardian. After some explanation, AV was just like "ok" and went about her business.

Since then though, the change has been amazing. She used to always make it a point to tell others I was her foster mom. Now she had created a little call and response. She says (most emphatically) "You're MY mom!" and I am to respond (most emphatically) "You're MY daughter!"

So that part is going really well. Academically she is doing great. Sociall - ehhh, not so great. Wonderful survival skills in a dysfunctional family do not translate well into socially acceptable behavior. But we're working on it.

And lying! Whewee but that child can lie! And so stubbornly defend her lies even when confronted with hard evidence! So we're also working on that.

The nightmares are tons better. Funny enough she had 5 nights of nightmares in a row right after we discussed the guardianship. Those nightmares though were pretty mom focused so even my thick dream-interpretation brain could figure that out.

One of the ways I explained guardianship vs. adoption was that she was gaining me as a mom. She wasn't losing her parents - they're still mom and dad. But they can't take care of her so she gets to add a mom to her life. Now, so long as she doesn't announce to people that she has two mommies, I think we'll be ok! =-)

Work is going well. I did get the mongo raise I asked for!!! So thank you everyone for the encouragement! 18%!! It took forever because the company fiscal year starts in Sept but the budget wasn't approved until mid-October.

My business is doing ok. I'm finding it very difficult to balance parenthood and promoting my business. I do have a new opportunity to push my services more into the business sector so I'm really hoping that pans out.

I think that's enough for now - don't want to overwhelm you all!