Friday, May 29, 2015

Weekend Reading: The I Wish I Were Easing Back In Edition

I'm back!

I got back Monday night, after a full 24 hours of travel (Lagrasse to Toulouse by car, Toulouse to Madrid, Madrid to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to San Diego). The last flight was extremely bumpy- we had the seat belts light on for all but the first and last 30 minutes or so, and there were some roller coaster moments. But, we made it safe and sound and on time.

The kids were in bed, but had left welcome home signs, and greeted me with very big, enthusiastic hugs when they saw me. Petunia found me in the wee hours of the morning, and joined me in my bed for some snuggles (as she often does). Pumpkin came running in once the sun was up. It is great to be home with them.

The trip was great, too. I'll post some trip stories soon, once Mr. Snarky gets home with the camera. He had to stay on in Europe for some work. He'll be home tomorrow evening, but he gets to take a direct flight from London to San Diego.

I wish I could say I eased back in, but that would be a lie. I had to basically get up Tuesday morning and start running again. My parents were only able to stay until Wednesday morning to help out (and they were a huge help- taking Petunia to day care one day and Pumpkin to school the next, buying my groceries when I ran out of time to go to the store).

Wednesday night was Open House at Pumpkin's school. I'd completely forgotten until she reminded me on Tuesday. So I picked Petunia up early and we all went to the open house. I crashed into my bed roughly 10 minutes after getting Petunia to sleep.

Our loan came through yesterday, so I spent over an hour signing my name and "Mr. Snarky, by and through his agent and attorney-in-fact, Wandering Scientist" to a stack of papers. Hooray! Our room addition can proceed. Then I went back today and signed a few they missed.

I worked, and I prepared for a talk I'm giving on Monday. I have caught up on one set of emails, but not the ones to my personal account. That has been on my to do list every day since I got home, but I've yet to really start on it. Maybe tomorrow.

I also turned 43 yesterday. It was a low key celebration, but that was fine. I crashed into my bed maybe 20 minutes after the kids went to sleep, so that's progress.

TL;DR: I'm back, I'm tired, but I'm getting back into the swing of things! I'll post more about France soon.

So, how about some links?

First of all, if you've been delaying a decision on whether or not to sign up for my Get More Done class, time is running out. Registration closes one week from today, and there are only a few spots remaining for the live class. Even if you just want the recording, you need to sign up before the end of the day on June 5. So sign up now!

Now, for the real links:

This storify about diversity in children's literature is a must read for anyone interested in the topic.

Why women talk less: solving the problem of equal representation is harder than most people think.

A Black former cop writes about racial profiling and policing. You should read this one if you haven't already.

Roxane Gay is eloquent on the subject reading lists that don't include books by writers of color.

Housing discrimination continues. That is shameful.

If you're on the pill, you should know the signs of a blood clot. Now that I'm over 35, taking the pill isn't quite the no-brainer it used to be. I wish I'd liked my Mirena more than I did! I wish we had more options than we do, too.

John Scalzi got a huge book deal. If you're at all interested in publishing, his interview with Alyssa Rosenberg is worth a read.

There's probably a joke about sheep somewhere in this statistic, too, but I can't quite make it happen:



That's all I have... and that's all I have time for! Time to pick up Pumpkin so that we can go get Petunia and take her to soccer. Tomorrow we have gymnastics, Kindergarten registration, Chinese lessons, and a birthday party. Wheeee! If I were a single parent instead of an occasionally solo parent, I am pretty sure we'd have fewer activities. This is exhausting. But neither Mr. Snarky nor I travels much, so our schedule is usually quite manageable, and lots of activities tends to translate into better sleep....

10 comments:

  1. Welcome back! And Happy yesterday Birthday!

    I don't quite know how other people do the solo parenting, short or long term. PiC has some travel coming up and we don't even have activities yet to be exhausted by, but I'm dreading solo parenting anyway. We work best as a team! Which means we have to be together!

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    1. Thanks!

      I don't find solo parenting as bad as I feared it would be before my first time doing it. I certainly prefer having Mr. Snarky here, but there are some advantages to being solo, too- I spend zero time discussing decisions, for instance!

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  2. Welcome back! You were missed.

    And thanks for the Storify. I want Baguette's dolls and toys and books to look like the world she lives in. My books, too. I'm looking forward to exploring alternative reading lists.

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    1. Thanks!

      I am trying to make sure that the recommendations I post over at my author site (http://mrnelsonbooks.com/) include diverse books. Writing my initial list of books made me realize that we aren't doing as good a job with finding diverse books as I would like, so I'm trying to improve. But there is some diversity there already- my most recent post is about the Chinese tradition of the kitchen god, and I've also posted a book we really liked that has a blind girl as a lead character.

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  3. Anonymous10:26 AM

    Happy belated birthday!

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  4. Why didn't you like the Mirena? I just got an IUD and the adjustement isn't easy but I'm hopeful it'll get better, except you just discouraged me again ;)

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    1. Second the request for whatever specifics you are comfortable with---I keep waffling on the mirena.its sitting in the pharmacy waiting for me to make up my mind. The friends I know who have one mostly have no problems, but there must be done downsides.

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    2. I had trouble both on insertion and removal. I had a vagal response at insertion and almost passed out. Removal took two tries and was moderately painful. I think I could get past that for the benefits- it is definitely easy birth control, and I loved the 5 years w/o a period!

      I had a lot of cramping and spotting for the first year or so I had it, but I think that was because I was nursing. It was bad for a few months and then tapered off to being no big deal. Since I'm not planning on any more kids, that wouldn't have stopped me from getting another one, either.

      For me the deal killer was that I have an atypical response to the progesterone: it kills my sex drive. (For most people, I think the response is opposite). I had a similar problem with the mini pills I took after Pumpkin was born. I think that if you have taken the mini pill without issue and don't mind the discomfort on insertion and removal, it is a great option.

      I'm considering going with the copper IUD next, but haven't decided yet. We're also considering more permanent options, since I don't want to have any more kids.

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  5. Welcome back, Cloud! And happy birthday!

    FYI, I have the Mirena and I love it (will be 4 years in September). I haven't really had issues with insertion or thereafter. There was cramping for a while but I didn't think it was too bad (had it inserted 3 months postpartum). I am starting to look into what after, if I need to be off it before removal or if I can just get a new one.

    This may be TMI, but the orgasms have been extra awesome since having Mirena installed. And I love it that I don't have a period (gone away completely at about 6 months on Mirena).

    I had a copper IUD way back when, before kids (there was a mini model for women who weren't mothers). I really did not care for the extra abundant periods or the cramping. (My mom has a horror copper IUD story and was really against me getting any IUD.)

    The only thing I am worried about with Mirena (or anything hormonal) is if it has anything to do with blood clots. I sit a lot and I used to smoke in my youth, so clots are probably something I should worry about.

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  6. Yes, the upside of solo parenting is no discussions on decisions. The downside is you have to do everything. You do both idea and execution...
    Can't wait to see the France pictures and hear about it!

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