tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721Mon, 16 Sep 2024 22:35:58 +0000parenthoodwork-family balancebooksdogearedwhere I livegrowing upfeministy-type stuffreligioncultural commentarymarriagecareer changeobservedself-absorbed and vaguely conceited musingsstorieswritingbloggingpoliticsphonetographyuseful thingslifestyles of the rest of usAnne is a biglaw lawyer and mother of a toddler in Chicago. She blogs about work-family balance/work-life balance, books, culture, parenthood, growing up, growing old, marriage, feminism, religion, rats, writing, blogging, and anything else she feels like.http://moremadder.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Anne)Blogger220125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-7643246293333802369Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:25:00 +00002012-03-26T14:25:04.607-05:00booksdogearedgrowing upFrom Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping: We had been assured by our elders that intelligence was a family trait. All my kin and forebears were people of substantial or remarkable intellect, though somehow none of them had prospered in the world. Too bookish, my grandmother said with tart pride, and Lucille and I read constantly to forestall criticism, anticipating failure.  *  I ate http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2012/03/dogeared_26.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-6125646844367256546Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:26:00 +00002012-03-12T13:43:45.122-05:00parenthoodA couple months ago Nugget and I were at the library and he lost me for a few minutes. I was looking at books about ten feet from where he was working on a puzzle and when I sat down on the floor to examine the lowest shelves, I was hidden by a bookshelf. He looked up and, not seeing me, set off--in the wrong direction--to find me. When I found him a minute or two later, the tears were starting http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2012/03/couple-months-ago-nugget-and-i-were-at.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-1754102012258523512Mon, 12 Mar 2012 05:29:00 +00002012-03-12T00:29:52.370-05:00dogearedwritingFrom George Saunders's comments on his short story Bohemians in The Best American Short Stories 2005: It's not uncommon for me to to feel nauseated after reading one of my paragraphs, but this was a special kind of nausea, related to how overwritten this paragraph was, how full of a young writer's desire to invoke exotica about a part of the world he had never been to. It sounded like Isaac Babelhttp://moremadder.blogspot.com/2012/03/dogeared.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-5788917606770383037Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:28:00 +00002012-01-26T15:28:43.676-06:00parenthoodPretty much everything in my life, including this blog, has been on hold for the last 7 weeks while I coped--poorly--with the nausea and exhaustion of early pregnancy. I'm on the cusp of the second trimester now and (knock on wood) my symptoms seems to be easing up. It's been at least ten times worse than my first pregnancy. Which I take as evidence that my determination to have a girl is workinghttp://moremadder.blogspot.com/2012/01/do-not-say-tis-superstition.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-2799120228919433848Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:42:00 +00002012-01-26T14:42:12.781-06:00dogearedgrowing upparenthoodFrom a blog post by Dr. Laura Markham (not that Dr. Laura) on Aha! Parenting.com:  The secret work of adulthood is that we are all still growing up, and parenting forces us to learn to parent ourselves as well as our child.http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2012/01/dogeared.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-5415551655504750187Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:23:00 +00002011-12-06T13:26:04.051-06:00where I live We just moved from a new-construction tract home on a cul de sac to a charmingly rustic and rather remote log cabin in the woods. It's a bit different. Before the subdivision we were in a condo overlooking a major street in the heart of Chicago, so we're on quite the journey here. My sisters wanted to know whether I chose this house because it looks like the Little House on the Prairie. I was http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/12/we-just-moved-from-new-construction.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-2796722922205598718Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:55:00 +00002011-11-13T12:55:44.340-06:00booksdogearedFrom Jane Austen's Mansfield Park: "I am a very matter-of-fact, plain spoken being, and may blunder on the borders of a repartee for half an hour together without striking it out." From Lionel Trilling's essay, Mansfield Park: The city bears the brunt of our modern uneasiness about our life. We think of it as being the scene and the cause of the loss of the simple integrity of the spirit--in ourhttp://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/11/dogeared.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-597169373516223996Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:12:00 +00002011-11-03T16:18:45.137-05:00phonetographywhere I liveTaken with Instagram using the Hudson filter (I think), plus a yellow filter in PhotoShop. This is Port Angeles taken from Ediz Hook, a natural arm of sand and rocks that curves around the harbor. I am in love with the autumn sunshine.http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/11/walking-dog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-4058423199415432633Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:57:00 +00002011-11-03T10:57:29.818-05:00phonetographywhere I liveThe view from the driveway of Nugget's school.http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/11/commute-continued.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-253125804584379003Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:49:00 +00002011-11-01T01:49:28.583-05:00phonetographywhere I live Another scene from my commute to Nugget's school. Also taken with Instagram, using the Hudson filter here. http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/11/this-time-i-pulled-over.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-275805157785933768Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:04:00 +00002011-10-31T14:04:53.096-05:00phonetographyAs if I were not already a public menace on the roads, I've taken to playing with my phone's camera while driving. This was taken with the Instagram app using the Kelvin filter. Plus some adjustments in Photoshop at home.http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/public-menace.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-8890827222063550276Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:07:00 +00002011-10-31T14:06:05.319-05:00phonetographywhere I liveThis is what I see as I approach my house on my way back from dropping Nugget at school in the morning. I love my life. Another thing I love about where I live? My name was in the paper the other day because I passed the Washington bar exam. I was the only person from my town on the pass list. I'm friggin' famous now.http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/clear-sky-of-fame.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-2248625953546606332Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:16:00 +00002011-10-24T17:16:28.483-05:00parenthoodreligionConversation while driving this afternoon: Moremadder: Hey, see the construction site over there?  Nugget: They're building a house? M: It looks like they're adding onto a church. N: Not a house? M: No, I'm pretty sure it's a church. N: What's a church? M: (shit) Um ... it's a place where people go to ... be together and ... sing songs and ... um, pray (shit shit don't ask what that is http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-am-peppercorn-brewers-horse.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-5694747286598960489Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:16:00 +00002011-10-20T16:18:04.814-05:00career changework-family balanceWhen I launched this journey toward a better balance between career and family in my life (i.e., quit my job), I wrote: I am firmly opposed to helicopter parenting. And I think when an individual is focusing all of his or her energies on parenting, the helicopter is inevitable. So I hope to find some balance. If you see me writing here about the charts I've created to track my son's http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/once-more-unto-breach.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-5593836731485346976Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:06:00 +00002011-10-17T13:08:07.244-05:00booksdogearedFrom Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride: She's happy he's still alive: women live longer than men and men have weak hearts, sometimes they just keel over, and although she and West aren't old--they're hardly old at all--still, women her age have awakened in the morning to find dead men beside them. Tony does not consider this a morbid thought. * Zenia's ashes were in a sealed metal canister, http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/dogeared.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-6936114812133142640Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:44:00 +00002011-10-17T12:44:50.870-05:00booksThe Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read this book very quickly, and talked about it to anyone who would listen. I was quite wild-eyed in my fascination with it. But my ardor waned as the book went on; ultimately, I'm not sure what I would say if someone asked me what it was all about. It really wandered. And while I enjoyed the http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/book-review_17.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-7395177654719049323Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:34:00 +00002011-10-17T12:34:56.833-05:00booksThis Life Is in Your Hands: One Family, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone by Melissa Coleman My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was telling my father-in-law's girlfriend about my current fascination with growing/gathering/raising one's own food (an idle fascination, since I am lazy and have no real desire to labor in a garden or chicken coop), and she told me I should read this book she'd just finished. Sohttp://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/book-review.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-4704725983150074179Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:16:00 +00002011-10-17T12:16:29.110-05:00lifestyles of the rest of uswhere I liveHundreds of jellyfish have been populating the waters by our city pier for the last few weeks. Seeing them made me realize that the membership I bought for the Seattle Aquarium was probably unnecessary. Why drive two or three hours to look at sea life in an aquarium when we are surrounded by it out here? Of course, the aquarium does have much to offer. I took Nugget there last week when my http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/these-trees-shall-be-my-books.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-4453513313586845680Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:48:00 +00002011-10-11T14:48:00.797-05:00where I live A patch of rainbow http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/with-cheerful-eyes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-1685256250290068087Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:13:00 +00002011-10-06T12:14:58.708-05:00bookscultural commentarylifestyles of the rest of uswhere I live The original Borders, in Ann Arbor, Michigan: closed for good. It is truly terrifying to see this once-loathed behemoth close its doors. I cannot deny that I buy many if not most of my books online -- these days, usually used, from Alibris or Amazon. When I don't just borrow from the library. But there are few things I love more than browsing a bookstore. And while I love the quirky charm and http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/10/o-let-my-books-be.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-2766984328871977101Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:18:00 +00002011-09-30T16:18:10.556-05:00dogearedFrom Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor: ... and the dogs were mourned by me, at least. I wondered what pact they had made, what fealty they had sworn, to be caught up in the feuds of men, and to pay with their lives. http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/09/dogeared_30.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-252178580239417816Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:44:00 +00002011-09-28T14:44:51.504-05:00dogearedFrom Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test: "I love the way you talk," one prisoner tells another. There is real tenderness in his voice. "You just let it flow from you as if you own all the words in the world. They're your personal property and you make them dance for you."* There is no evidence that we've been placed on this planet to be especially happy or especially normal.http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/09/dogeared.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-1771017418955754239Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:46:00 +00002011-09-19T12:46:09.834-05:00parenthoodstoriesNugget and I are in the midst of a crazy month of travel to see various family. We got back from San Francisco yesterday and are heading to Chicago on Thursday. Apparently it's a good thing we are traveling so much; I discovered yesterday that my Nugget, now a small-town boy, is in need of a little broadening. We were on a crowded parking shuttle, going from the Seattle airport to the lot where http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/09/speak-less-than-thou-knowest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-1914068985278897026Fri, 02 Sep 2011 03:44:00 +00002011-09-01T22:44:17.305-05:00parenthoodTrent and I both read bedtime books to Nugget every night, but we trade off responsibility for the ordeal that follows. Getting Nugget to fall asleep generally requires an hour or two of sustained attention. Last night one of us jumped the gun on concluding that the battle had been won for the night, closed Nugget's door and headed downstairs, while the other one was surprised to see Nugget's http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/09/o-partial-sleep.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130418367544495721.post-166471366697805193Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:20:00 +00002011-08-26T12:23:28.585-05:00lifestyles of the rest of uswhere I liveSince we traded my sweet BigLaw income for a sweet SmallTown lifestyle, I've been dabbling a bit with couponing. Yes, couponing. It never made much sense to me--such a hassle to save 50 cents--and even now with my altered economic landscape that seems like a paltry payoff. But what I had not realized is that there are various strategies that have to be followed that will multiply those 50 cent http://moremadder.blogspot.com/2011/08/since-we-traded-my-sweet-biglaw-income.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anne)0