Author Archives: Autumn

Checklist

All the day’s correspondence handled (responses, business, weekend planning, proposals): done.

Edits on the anthology essay submission (all three of them, ha!): done.

Contract for permission to consider/use said submission ( “We are pleased to inform you that your story submission has been selected as a finalist for publication consideration”): done.

New manuscript evaluation assignment received and downloaded (this one is YA, hurrah!): done.

Planning meals etc. for the boy’s birthday weekend with family: done, with help. (Parents arrive tomorrow night, more hurrah!)

And now, the boy has been asleep for almost two and a half hours. I will check on him again.

Musical Madness

If there’s one thing that playing medleys of musicals for the Canada Day concert does for me, it’s reawaken my interest in musicals. On one hand the medleys are frustrating: they’re all arrangements and never exactly the same as the original song, which makes playing them somewhat counter-intuitive (there’s lots of but but but that’s NOT the rhythm of the song! when one begins playing a theme, and I have to try to not think about the original and play what’s in front of me). Plus they require several lightning-fast changes of key and time signatures, and challenge me to think fast.

On the other hand, they remind me of how much I love musicals. And as a result, over the past few years I’ve ended up replacing some of the musicals I only had on cassette tape so that I could listen to them again. This year, thanks to the efforts of Gmarc and his parents, I’ve acquired My Fair Lady (hurrah for Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison! — and this is actually the second My Fair Lady medley I’ve done with the orchestra; I believe the first (and substantially different) one was done for the first Canada Day concert I did with them), and South Pacific (which I have managed to not hear throughout my entire life). And with Sandman7 delivering an intense rendition of “On the Street Where You Live” at his recital last week, well, we’ve revisited the idea of organizing the occasional musical movie night at some point for the musical lovers of the group.

Now, astute readers will already know that we are also playing a Sound of Music medley this July. I know The Sound of Music; I watched the film several times as a child (despite the fact that for years I thought it ended with the wedding, thanks to bedtime and what I suspect was also my mother’s caring attempt to keep me blissfully ignorant about war and Nazis until I was mature enough to understand it), and heard selections in various school concerts over the years. I used to sing “Edelweiss” to the boy when he was very tiny and needed help falling asleep.

The thing about The Sound of Music is that its themes are particularly insidious. I have found myself singing them at odd times since we started rehearsing the medley. Normally to cure this I would throw the CD in the player and I’d be over it in a couple of days. However, The Sound of Music is not and has never been among my albums or soundtracks. (Well, there was a Julie Andrews compilation LP I had as a child, but that is long, long gone.)

So when the boy wakes up I’m going to take him out to the shops to pick up a copy of The Sound of Music soundtrack; it’s a $9.99 bargain CD now and I’ll be using a gift certificate I’ve been saving in my wallet. I think the boy will enjoy the songs too. Rodgers and Hammerstein aren’t exactly They Might Be Giants, but time supports the fact that they did turn out catchy tunes, so we’ll see what the boy makes of it.

Maybe someday we’ll do a medley of one of my favourite musicals, such as Kiss Me Kate or Showboat.

Highs And Lows

Both literally and figuratively.

The boy woke up at 2:40 this morning, came into our bedroom, announced he was awake and asked for Rice Krispies and milk. HRH put him back to bed with a drink and some bread and butter. Then at 5:40 the performance was repeated, only this time HRH said, “Wow, he’s really hot. As in way too hot.” So I found the thermometer and we took his temperature, and yes, he had a fever. He was acting perfectly normal in every other respect, albeit a bit cuddlier than usual, so I gave him acetaminophen and we checked the temperature every half hour until we were sure it was going down.

It’s been a quiet morning (if you count watching Veggie Tales songs on YouTube as being quiet). I checked his temperature again at 11:30 and it was back up, so he got more acetaminophen. Apart from that he’s had some juice and water and a nibble of pancake, and a Rice Krispie square from the pan we made; he just hasn’t been hungry. For lunch he had a couple of chicken nuggets with a huge glass of milk. And then he literally fell asleep on my lap, so I carried him to his room and put him to bed, where he rolled over onto his stomach and didn’t protest at all. I’ll keep an eye on him. At the moment it’s a high fever but not dangerously to-the-hospital high, and above all else he’s acting pretty much as usual. He’s fighting something off.

Best news of the morning: There has been a match found among international bone marrow registrants for Emru, who was was diagnosed with leukemia and a condition called monosomy 7 just over six months ago. Does this mean the fight to get the word out is over? Not by a long shot. The donor has to agree, Emru still has to go into remission, be prepped, do the surgery, and then hope the donation doesn’t attack the host, the host attack the donation, and a variety of other things. The most important issue at the moment is that we don’t stop educating and spreading information about the importance of adding your name to the bone marrow registry of your country. Emru is only one man; there are thousands and thousands of people out there who still need a bone marrow transplant to save their lives. Keep the HealEmru.com link circulating; keep mentioning it to everyone you meet. The majority of racial groups are still under-represented, and that’s not going to change overnight. Here’s a passage from Kino Kid’s post, with the pertinent info.

If you’re not going to read this message straight through, that’s ok, but if you resend it to anyone, do so in its entirety or post this paragraph, the next paragraph and point one at least.

A match was found for Emru on Wednesday. If you tell anyone, please remember you must tell them to that many other people are still waiting, and the actual crisis that made us spring into motion is not yet alleviated. Talking about it and passing the information along is an educational tool that you must continue to use, even if we can all breathe easier.

1:

Emru’s donor could change their mind and decline at any time. Right now there is no backup. This is not your cue to stop talking about bone marrow donation and registration. Keep going. Emru wants you to. I want you to. People you have never met need you to. Their lives are in our hands.

There are still massive shortages in the donor pool, and this will not change unless we continue to care about it. What we do will only be known at the end of March next year. What do we want to see when we get those numbers? That 100 more people have registered or 1000? 10000?

If all goes well Emru will have another chance at his life, and will transform from someone needing a transplant into someone who has successfully gone through the process, an ambassador for those who still are in need of a match from the registry. And he’ll have given his name to a campaign that will continue.

Are you a match? Find out how you can help save Emru’s life: http://www.healemru.com

Got Facebook? Please join Help Emru Find a Bone Marrow Donor and if you learn something new, invite your friends.
Got Livejournal, WordPress or Blogger? Blog it!
Got Youtube? Subscribe to www.youtube.com/healemru
Just find someone you care about and tell them.

Contact info:

Hema Quebec http://www.hema-quebec.qc.ca
Canada Blood Services (Canada, except Quebec) http://onematch.ca/registry
National Marrow Donor Program (US) http://www.marrow.org
Anthony Nolan Trust (UK) http://anthonynolan.org.uk

Reset

The day spiralled from “coping” to “ohmygods I’m officially dead of bad migraine” on the way home from picking up kitty litter yesterday afternoon, complete with a vertiginous incident coming up to a traffic light where I got the prickly sensation in my hands and feet that is my body’s warning signal for “you’re about to throw up, and probably a lot”. I rolled down the windows and turned the vents on for as much fresh air as possible, breathed deeply with great focus (the mantra being “cannot throw up in new car, cannot throw up in new car, especially not with small child aboard”) and we got home without disaster striking. Once home, however, that was it; I was toast. I did end up having to cancel my evening out because I couldn’t stand up without falling over (and pleaded for a rain check, preferable for next Tuesday) but despite doing the lying in bed in a darkened room with all sound shut out thing that usually helps migraines, I couldn’t fall asleep. So I took more pain-relief tablets and actually kept them down this time (not that they helped much) and kind of wandered around the house squinting and wincing at sudden sharp sounds. I tried to read but I couldn’t follow the style of Larklight, so I stared at my bookcases for fifteen minutes before I remembered that Cymry had mentioned rereading Killashandra a while ago, so I found my copy of Crystal Singer and reread two hundred pages before finally passing out.

The boy slept in till 7:10 this morning, thank the gods. I am experiencing the typical post-migraine-day ache absolutely everywhere, but I can deal.

Now to rewrite and polish the evaluation draft I accomplished on Monday (along with reading the entire MS, and yes I am very proud of this), upload it, and be one whole day early on that deadline! And I’m going to invoice on Friday, too. Ha. It would be nice to see some income for the work I’ve done for someone over the past six weeks.

Today So Far

Storytime at the library for small child (for the first and last time this season — we joined late, and though next week is the last session before September we have a doctor’s appointment already scheduled): Success.

Trip to the office supply store for postcards and stickers: Success.

Introducing small child to a half-dozen Smarties: Success. Except then he whined for more all the way home.

Lunch, bathroom, small child down for a nap: Success. Please, gods, let him sleep for a full two hours. Two and a half would be even more awesome. (ETA: So much for that; all I got was an hour and a quarter.)

BIRTHDAY INVITATIONS: SUCCESS. It deserves capital letters, okay? I designed them and printed them out correctly on the first go. I found enough properly-sized envelopes and addressed them after looking up the addresses I didn’t have. I even have enough stamps for the ones being mailed. As a result of all this, I am currently watching for the four motorcycles bearing harbingers of the apocalypse. (I wanted to carry on the style I’d established for the first two birthday invitations, but the MS Publisher CD has mysteriously vanished and therefore I cannot install the program. It’s fine; these are more than acceptable, mainly because I had the brainwave of printing them on blank postcards and using a picture of Totoros and soot sprites on them.)

Obliterating headache: Failure. Unfortunately, this one is really, really dragging me down. I do cheer up every time I think of having done the invites, but they can only take me so far.

Today’s Definition of ‘Bad Day’

Four hours of broken sleep.

A three-year-old who wakes up two hours early and won’t go back to bed.

A migraine into which not even multiples of extra-strength headache candy can make a dent. (Light and sound of any kind are not my friends at the moment, nor have they been since 5:15AM.)

An entire day ahead to get through.

I’m considering myself very, very lucky that I had a whirlwind of an awesome accomplishing-lots-of-work-things day yesterday and felt great about it, because I am useless today and foresee being useless tomorrow (once again, thanks so much, FMS, and let me state again that this is damned unfair). I have an evening out planned for tonight, and I hope to heaven I’m up for it. I suspect I won’t be.

At least there’s nothing dire in my mail this morning. (See me try to think positively!)

Random Liam Stuff

I’m feeling slightly apprehensive, because today is the first day the boy has gone to daycare in underpants. As of Friday morning we went off pull-ups. There were several accidents on Friday morning but only one Friday afternoon, two on Saturday, and only one on Sunday. He’s been lazy and depending on the pull-ups-just-in-case too much; now he can’t, and he’s realizing it. We’ve also dropped the ever-present sippy cup, which has helped the step to big-boy underwear. We offer him a drink regularly, and if he wants one otherwise he asks for one and he gets it in a real glass. I foresee accidents now and again for the next little while when he gets distracted, but accidents happen, and he helps clean them up. We still use a diaper at night, although it’s only a little damp in the morning; he sleeps very soundly, and I think having him feel secure during the day should be the first goal.

Late Friday afternoon we visited a preschool. We’ve been looking for one for a while, because Liam’s at the point in his development where he could really benefit from a structured class-like environment. Despite the several messages left with preschools and older daycares over the past three months, however, not one of them has called us back. HRH finally got a referral from his office mate to one on the south shore (we’re not sure why we didn’t think of looking near the college where he works, but it’s ideal) and we checked it out at an informal open house. From the moment we walked in the feeling was right. Liam evidently felt so too, because he seamlessly merged into the kids there while we toured and talked and got to know the educator. We love the layout, the program, and the philosophies demonstrated by the educators and assistants. The boy didn’t want to leave after our hour there, even though the other kids had left, which was also a good sign! The educator told us frankly that we were at the top of her list, because she wrenched her shoulder last season and would prefer to take an older child who doesn’t need to be carried; Liam fits right into the proper age range she’s looking for, and she shares the same good feeling about him and us. It’s nice when instinct and intuition support the otherwise observable facts.

So suddenly our little boy seems very grown up: real underwear, real cups, and school. “We’re going to see a school? A school for me?” he said with delight and excitement when we told him about the open house. That and the seamless merge into the environment and activities seem to support our ready-for-preschool theory.

And a final amusing anecdote to balance the grown-up-ness: Lately we’ve been listening to the Muppet albums in the car. The boy has now taken to mumbling “Ow, ow, ow, ow, owwwww” as he walks along. I first heard it the other day and said, “Liam, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” He looked at me uncomprehendingly. Then I realised that we’d just been listening to Marvin Suggs and the amazing Muppaphone in the car, and the boy was echoing ‘Lady of Spain’ as he took each step, but without the actual note attached to the sound the Muppets make when they’re whacked.