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July 23rd, 2008
01:46 pm - Miscellaneous, plus The Tudors
Things are going pretty well over here. I think fairly soon I will be able to get substantial work done on recent book and short story projects. The forecast for that kind of thing is promising. We are solving Mom-related problems one-by-one. She is likely eligible for some assistance through the DHS, but our doorway to that is an OT eval through the county, and the agency we're working with has exactly one occupational therapist, and 24 people awaiting evaluations. (Plus presumably a caseload of people who need therapy.) In the meantime, we are hiring a college girl home for summer break to do errands and odd jobs. It does take a lot of the pressure off, and since we are covering most of Mom's living expenses, she can afford to pay for this out of her meager income.( Read more... )
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July 19th, 2008
11:27 pm - Busy doing what?
My other plan for world domination is to get my home really "set up" and organized so that things we be smoother and more pleasant for us all. I am trying to make optimal use of every bit of space. To that end, I made a major assault on the enclosed porch, and got that in pretty good shape. I also decided to overhaul my home office. I had it set up in my kitchen nook, but didn't like the look of office junk all over my kitchen. I now have a banquette in there with storage hidden in the bench seats, and the idea is to store office supplies and equipment in the bench seats, and keep a minimal computer station set up at the table. It will still look like a breakfast nook, but function as an office. There's no room for filing cabinets, so that's where the Fujitsu comes in.
I think I will invest in one or two more storage benches. I want to put one in the dining room, to stash my sewing stuff, since that's where I work when I sew. (I am going to be making my little sister's wedding dress, and there's only five months to go!) And another one would be handy on the porch, for storing massive quantities of pet food.
Concurrently, I've been getting rid of stuff and storing stuff that we don't use much. I think it's working! I feel like I'll be able to be much more productive when the house is running more like a well-oiled machine. In any case, it will be a more pleasant and welcoming haven for us all when we come home.
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11:08 pm - Scanners
My new Fujitsu Scansnap s510 arrived in the mail yesterday, and it's over here rocking my world. Oh, yeah. The idea of this thing is you drop a bunch of paper in the top, it scans them, front and back, and spews them out at you. (The paper catcher part is a bit inadequate, so they tend to go flying all over the room.) Meanwhile, they pop up on your desktop, where, with the click of a mouse you can convert them to searchable pdfs, or save them as regular pdfs. I've got a good backup system, now, so I am implementing part I of my plan for world domination, which is the Paperless Office. ( Read more... )
With all of this going on, I definitely feel I spent a day in future!
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July 17th, 2008
11:10 pm - A day with Glen
One thing I've missed this summer is all the fun stuff I was going to do with Glen while we were on summer vacation. We still haven't been to the neighborhood pool! However, I got to spend some time with him today. Phew! This kid is a whirwind. Here is how his day went:
9-12: soccer camp. I pick him up and his face is bright pink and his hair damp from playing soccer in the hot sun.
12-1: lunch at Panera with Mom. He gets the "pick two" special. As usual, he chooses broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl, plus a sandwich and devours most of it.
1-2: He and I each have our violin lesson. The teacher shamelessly steals time from my lesson to work with Glen. I retaliate by forgetting my checkbook. Aw, too bad! Glen is stoked because while he was at soccer camp, I went to the Shar tent sale and got him a new violin. (Used instrument for $235, that would retail new for $449--go me!)
2-5: Glen fools around on new family computer. He is playing Age of Empires. He can spend hours creating new scenarios, immersed in the details of maps and strategies. His friend shows up and the two of them get into various mischief around the house while I dash off a bit of work correspondance and try to prepare dinner. (Brent's birthday dinner!)
5-7: Eating and miscellaneous. At one point, a great deal of giggling is heard, mixed with excited barking. They've got Courage's goat again, somehow. If there's one thing in life that Courage adores, it's kids. Especially interesting-smelling, silly, loud boys. It's so much fun when they have something he wants. Woof!
7: Glen announces that he wants to play his violin. Brent and I blink at each other, trying to translate his words into something that we understand. We finally conclude, against all common sense, that he has just asked to play his violin.
7-8:30: Glen plays through his new music reading book on his new violin. I allow him to have fun with that in lieu of "regular" practice. He plays bunches of songs he has never seen before. He sounds great and he is reading better than I've ever seen. When I comment, he says, "All I needed was the rhythm." Hm, that sounds profound. Maybe I should write that down. He is also playing nearly perfectly in tune, in spite of the fact that this is a different-sized violin and it has no finger tapes on it. His teacher seemed very pleased about that earlier.
8:30-10: When he's done with the violin, he grabs his new crystal growing kit that he bought with his allowance money. It's a serious kit, for older kids, including real SCIENCE. He loves it. He carefully follows the instructions to make the orange crystals. When he has trouble dissolving the crystals, I go over it with him, and we discover that he mismeasured his water. We add 10 extra milliliters. "Wow, I didn't know it was so precise!" he says. I tell him that when he has chemistry in high school or college, he will get to make a lot of crystals. "I'm going to love chemistry in college!" he exclaims. "This is so cool." I pause a moment. Actually, yes it was. Chem lab was extremely cool. I had forgotten. This is what kids do for you. At one point I attempt to pour the mixture back in the measuring cup to confirm that we have the right volume of water, but Glen points out that we already added the crystal powder, so the volume will not be the same. Dang! He is absolutely right! I am amazed. We set the orange crystal solution up in the basement to crystalize.
10-11:30: Glen drags out his lincoln logs and cardboard bricks and builds a castle. Is he tired? No, not really. Should I send him to bed? Probably. Soccer at 9 AM tomorrow. But it's so frigging hot, probably none of us would sleep at this point anyway.
Glen's a really neat kid. I don't always appreciate him. It's amazing to see his mind soaking up so much experience and information.
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06:20 pm - Computer for a good cause?
My son's good friend S--- is at the house today. He practically lives here. We mentioned we are getting rid of the old Mac G4 cube, and he immediately asked for it. I'm happy to give it to him, but the problem is he will probably be frustrated with it. It is about seven years old, and pretty outdated. He's a good kid (African American if that helps at all) and his Mom is a single Mom struggling to make ends meet. (The Dad is involved, but he has a number of kids by various women, and not much money, AFAIK.) I've done a ton of free babysitting for them, since she can't afford day care. There are a number of families in the neighborhood who do this--we all take care of him. And it's a good bargain. As I said, he's a good kid. I like having him around.
Anyway, I thought I would try to round up a newer computer for him. Does anyone have a computer sitting around that they are replacing that is newer than my old cube? S--- would love to have it. They can't afford a computer, but he really wants one. (And, yes, he will probably play games on it, not write a dissertation or anything. Go him. :-) I figured in this circle, there is probably someone who has just upgraded to the newest, shiniest toy and has something only a year or two old that they don't need anymore.
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July 15th, 2008
11:17 pm - Count my blessings
Okay, this is an open call for true stories of misery. Respond in comments. The rules are that the misery should be worse than mine, but nothing truly horrible, like people getting killed in a car accident. It is okay if it is a long time ago and somebody dies of consumption, though, because I just had a TB test and it's negative. But not if it's a little kid. Or the Mom of a little kid. Perhaps a childless nun who was later canonized. More preferable, though, is if there is some kind of..you know...triumph of the human spirit, or happy ending, or a puppy or something. Even a three-legged puppy would be okay. But don't forget the misery. It's a delicate balance.
Made up stories are acceptable, but they must contain octopi.
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July 12th, 2008
10:07 pm - Now that's better!
These past three months have been a whirlwind, and not much else other than the necessary has been done. This is unfortunate, because there were some key areas of disorganization I was tackling, and I was right in the middle when it all happened. Today, I finally got back on track. We took a short road trip to pick up an old hoosier cabinet that I found cheap on Craig's list. It's not one of the really nice ones, just a modest reproduction that had been repainted at some point in the past. I cleaned out the enclosed porch and set it up out there as an art center for Glen. Oh, is it ever nice! ( Read more... )
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09:07 am - Better this morning
I have to apologize for the excessively whiny post about weight gain. On the scale of the world's problems, it rates pretty low. Even on the scale of my problems, it's not the worst , and I am definitely not the first person in the world who has put on some weight without intending to. I have a nice quiet weekend, and I am going to kick it off by spending some time at the gym. I have a girl friend who was heavy when we were in school together. At some point after high school, she lost all of her weight and kept it off. Then she had two babies in two years, and did the losing weight thing again. She's a big inspiration. I was talking to her about this, and she said, "You know what? It's only fat. It's not going to kill you. Buy a couple of pairs of bigger pants and don't beat yourself up about it." I am going to keep that in mind.
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12:07 am - Drop the cookie and back away you fat slob
I have gained an appalling amount of weight recently. I have gained about ten pounds in the past year. Five of it in the past month. (And I was well over my optimal weight last year.) I can't explain it, and I'm worried and scared. I've seen my doctor and we have two theories. One is hypothyroid, one is stress. The former we can check with a simple blood test, and that is already in the works. I do not think it is the case. I don't have any of the symptoms, except for the weight gain. No dry skin, no brittle nails, no memory problems. Fatigue only if I positively am running a sleep deficit. But mostly I am not fatigued, I'm sorry to say. Sorry, because I really want to be hypothyroid.
I think it's stress. But when I try to learn about stress and weight gain on the internet, I encounter approximately 5000 web sites telling me to learn how to not eat emotionally. That's all well and good...but, people, I am not an emotional eater. When I am stressed out, very little looks worse to me than that archetypal pint of Ben and Jerry's. Bleh. I'm the kind of person who forgets to eat.
Now, it's true, with emergency room trips, and doctors appointments and whatnot, I haven't exercised at all in about a month, and I have had more restaurant/fast food than I would have liked. Still, I am not eating big macs and fries. I believe on one occasion I had a lox and cream cheese bagel and a muffin. On another, a plate of pasta with sauteed vegetables from the hospital caf. Maybe I like my carbs a bit too much, but I am not packing away donuts by the dozen. In fact, the more weight I gain, the more loathe I am to touch anything high in calories. The problem of not being able to get dressed in the morning makes everything taste like shit. This is not to say I am not eating. I am eating just fine. Which was my point. My intake is not explaining this. And I don't think the lack of exercise does, either. Not ONE MONTH.
Anyway, I guess there's no solution to this problem, but I am tired of being told by the internet that I am an emotional eater. Internet, you can go jump in a lake. Maybe a lot of people are emotional eaters, and maybe they appreciate the advice, but I'm thinking not. You wouldn't automatically say to someone suffering from insomnia that they should cut back on the street amphetamines. So neither should you automatically accuse someone with a health problem of having a bad habit.
If I may rant further, I don't know how to get rid of my stress, which is the other thing "they" want you to do. I do not think it's get-riddable. Some people may be able to solve life's problems with yoga and a colon cleanse or something. But sometimes people have real problems, and sometimes real problems don't have solutions.
Okay, I am going to go to bed and dream of fitting into my own damn pants. (My "fat pants" as a matter of fact.)
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July 11th, 2008
08:10 am - Racism is bad
[Update: In order to post on the Asimov's discussion board, you need to go to Asimovs.com, click on the forum, and then follow the directions to register. I posted under the topic "Do not post the reject letter in public, idiot!" Another topic mentions Tempest Bradford by name, but I haven't had time to read it, yet, so I haven't posted anything there.]
A particularly nasty scandal has arisen wherein a writer has publicized a rejection letter he received from Willian Sanders, editor of Helix, which reveals shockingly racist sentiments. For those of us who have encountered Sanders in the SFWA lounge, or elsewhere on the internet, this is no surprise. He has frequently engaged in abusive and intolerant language towards those he despises--mostly muslims and women, as far as I can tell (although he'll deny it vehemently, and present as evidence the fact that he is married). There are some details about the controversy here:
http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2008/07/09/uncool-man-just-uncool/
http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2008/07/10/asimovs-forum-ickiness/#comment-136715
There are many angles to this, most of which I think are a distraction. The term "sheet head" is an ethnic slur, and it cannot be taken out of context because there is no context in which it is acceptable. End of story.
More disturbing, however, is that this incident has given a soap box to people who evince even more disgusting racist and sexist attitudes, and for some reason much of that backlash has been deflected onto blogger Tempest Bradford (http://tempest.fluidartist.com/). Is it a coincidence that she is the only person who is both obviously black and obviously female who has spoken out on this issue? I think not. I am sickened.
I could go over to the Asimov's discussion forum and jump into the fray, but I'd rather do something else instead. These jerks are a small percentage of the community--speaking both of the community of sf readers, and also the communities surrounding Asimov's and internet-based sf fandom. They seem to have nothing better to do all day than read and post to these boards. I don't have that kind of time, but I do have time to post once. What I propose to do is to make a simple, positive, affirmative comment on the Asimov's message board opposing racism, bigotry, sexism, and the use of belittling or dehumanizing language based on a person's appearance or physical characteristics. What would it be like if hundreds of us did the same thing--not engaging in the (stupid) controversy, by which we would all inevitably belittle ourselves, but also adamantly not tolerating such deplorable behavior.
Who is with me?
Here is what I will write. Feel free to adapt my statement, or come up with a better one:
My name is Catherine Shaffer and I stand against racism, sexism, bigotry, prejudice, and discrimination. I deplore the use of language that demeans human beings on the basis of their appearance, sex, physical characteristics, religion, handicap, sexual orientation, or other qualities bestowed by nature or heritage. I find intolerable the use of slurs such as "sheet head" and "feminazi" (which are inappropriate in any context) such as have been used here and elsewhere on the internet. As well, I expect Mr. Sanders, as editor of Helix, and a representative of that organization to be held accountable for his use of inappropriate language no matter how this incident came to light. As a writer of science fiction, I would like to affirm that the overwhelming majority of my peers share a heartfelt belief in the equal dignity of all human beings.
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July 10th, 2008
01:12 pm - Courage crazy list
Brent got a couple of giant smoked cow femurs last month, and it's really helped with Courage's eating urges. He hasn't eaten anything unusual lately. Fortunately, he's still crazy. Today, he and Chewie got in a fight over some leftovers (a dish called "sayka goulash" with sour cream, sauerkraut, pork, and dumplings--they never fight over food that's not raw meat, so you can imagine how much they like this stuff), and Courage bit himself during the fight. He also is afraid of the whole back yard. This is not totally his fault. The transmitter for the radio fence was in Mom's room. When she moved in, I explained to her what it was that was sitting in the corner of her closet, and that it should remain plugged in and undisturbed at all times. However, when I noticed that courage was afraid to go out into the yard, and was consequently pooping in the sandbox right next to the back door, I checked it. It was plugged in, but the dial was turned down to 2 instead of 6, where we had set it. Courage had been getting zapped when he had barely stpped out the back door. Thank goodness it wasn't 1! Mom must have jostled it while putting stuff in the closet. When I pulled the unit out, Mom said, "What's that doing in my closet?" She had no idea.
Anyway, we had not been putting the collar on Chewie, so only Courage is affected. It is going to take a long time for him to forget.
Or maybe not. This is Courage we're talking about. The upside is that we could probably grow some grass back there, now. LOL.
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July 7th, 2008
06:07 pm - What? Another post?
After the craziness of holidays and Medical Fun(TM) I feel like a new cycle is beginning and maybe things will be a bit more normal from here on out. Mom has been helping with the housework. A lot. I have no standing to complain about a messy or dirty house. It's awesome. She is also somewhat dippy on some of her new cancer meds, and it's amusing. Today, Glen and I had a mother-son lunch at Panera, and Glen couldn't eat much of his bear claw. He brought it home for Nana. She says, "What's this?" "A bear claw," I said. "It's a pastry." Mom picks it up. "It's something to eat?" she says. LOL.
We've visited our airport garden twice in the past week. During Brent's illness and the rest of our Medical Fun(TM), unspeakable things happened in the garden. It rained and rained and shone and shone, and, well, I haven't seen weeds grow that way since I was in the rain forest in coastal alaska. Truly frightening and intimidating. Our 20X25 patch did not seem so big at first, but when it's packed with weeds two feet high...oy. Fortunatelyl, they are loosely rooted and easy to pull. We had planned on mulching with newspaper plus grass clippings. Alas, the mower has been in disrepair the whole season so far, so we've not been able to collect much in the way of clippings when we visit. The mower is in the shop and the grass over there is getting high, so hopefully next week we'll have our mulching system in place. For now, we are putting down the newspaper and piling weeds on top to hold it down. We have, bar none, the ugliest garden in the whole place. The plants are doing pretty good, though! Unless we are visited by a hoard of locusts or a vicious hail storm, we'll be able to put away lots of food for winter.
Speaking of which, I have put up a bunch of strawberries--both what Glen and I picked, and also 16 pounds from a surprise $1/pound sale at Meijer. We also stayed up late making jam on Saturday evening. There is something so comforting about having a freezer or pantry full of fruit, veggies, or preserves. The only problem is that my freezer looks half full with all the strawberries! What am I going to do when it's time for kale and mustard greens and chard and so forth? Hmmm....
Okay, back to the deadline. What? How did you know?
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11:27 am - shopping success (or, why doesn't she ever shut up?)
My office situation has not been good, ever since last year when I gave up the third bedroom and made it into a guest room/room for mom. I am currently set up in the breakfast nook in the kitchen. This is kind of harsh for me, because I love a breakfast nook. When I first saw this house, I fell in love with it in part because of the breakfast nook. So I did not want to fill it with files and computer equipment, but there wasn't really a choice. ( Read more... )
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10:12 am - AAAAARGH! [updated]
I had two weeks of half-day summer camp lined up for Glen--camps he helped pick out and was really looking forward to. I got there to drop him off this morning and was presented with some papers to fill out. One item on the papers was a full liability waiver--it releases them from any and all liability no matter what. I left that part blank and gave the paper back. Predictably, we were told that my son could not participate in camp unless I stay with him the whole time. (Um, how does that protect them from being sued?) I am so angry I don't even know what to do with myself. I have called the public schools (which run the camps) and left a message. No call back yet. There is no way I am indemnifying them for their own negligance. They can go jump in a lake. But Glen was pretty disappointed when we had to walk away from the camp. All the other kids were sitting at a table, wearing their camp hats, and there were interested activities laid out. Dammit.
I hate the whole goddamn world. The very best way this could work out, I think, is if they give me my money back for both camps. Want to take bets on whether they'll do that? I have already had some trouble with them. When I signed up originally, the form had three spaces for each camp choice. The spaces were labeled "first choice," "first alternate choice," "second alternate choice." I put two choices down for each. Well, some idiot signed us up for all four, then called my husband and asked him for money because there was "no check." I got very angry trying to get that straightened out, because they had charged him for four camps, and then when I told them I only wanted two, they "refunded" the money into my "rec and ed" account. When I complained, I was told that the record indicated that we had asked for the money to be held for us. Bull. Shit. No one would ask for that. The employee responsible was conveniently traveling overseas.
Have I mentioned I hate the world. I can't stand seeing my son disappointed over something like this, but I would never sign a full liability waiver for anything. That's giving up my rights under the law. (Although it may well not be enforceable, I'd really rather not get to the point of having a court rule on that.)
Update: the school district was really cool about this and refunded my money for this camp. They subcontract with a group that is doing this particular series of camps, and it is the subcontractor that requires the waiver. Invalid though it may be, I won't sign things I don't agree with. Glen is only minimally disappointed. I am probably more disappointed FOR him. The good news is he can still do soccer camp next week. I was really worried about losing soccer camp.
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July 6th, 2008
09:07 pm - Needs and wants
My friendslist has been abuzz with the laptop thefts at Clarion West, and how you can help out by contributing to the workshop so that they can buy the students whose computers were stolen brand new computers. A lively debate has sprung up on Boingboing and elsewhere regarding whether buying all new computers is really necessary. There's lots been said about writing and whether or not you can switch to pen and paper when your genius has been reliant on a laptop for your entire 18 month writing career thus far, and how intense and stressful the workshop is and how unfair--UNFAIR, I say--it is that someone broke in and stole them. ( Read more... )
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July 1st, 2008
06:21 pm - Stupidest hospital stay evar
I've decided that unless Mom is having symptoms that would send a normal, healthy person to the emergency room, I am not taking her in. We keep doing this ER thing on the advice of on-call docs, and it is a stupid waste of time. Sunday night, we called in because Mom had swelling in her legs. The doc on call thought it was because of the new meds she was taking, but was concerned it might be a blood clot. He warned me that if it is a blood clot, it could travel to her lungs and become very serious. So, very reluctantly, we went in. We weren't seen for five hours, and then lots of hemming and hawing happened. They wanted to do a leg ultrasound to rule out the blood clot, even though it is *extremely* unlikely to be blood clots if both legs swell. And guess what? The hospital doesn't do ultrasounds at night. So they admitted her, and she didn't get the ultrasound until late the next morning. She also had a low fever and various other vague symptoms, that all ended up being a big nothing, even though they kept her two days. Bottom line, she would have gotten care on the exact same schedule if we'd gone to sleep in our own beds and called in the next day. We had also been advised to go to the ER Friday night, because Mom was having some vague asthma symptoms. I gave her a bendryl and we both went to bed. It was not the end of the world.
When I think back on previous ER visits with or without hospital admission, I can think of very few that truly could not wait until morning. I have very belatedly come to the conclusion that these doctors are just covering their asses, at the expense of my time and peace of mind. Screw that.
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June 30th, 2008
10:26 am - Mom in again
Mom started having some various symptoms probably related to starting cancer treatment Friday, but she ended up in the hospital for the whole infection, blood clot, whatever workup. In the past, I've been fairly lucky with this emergency room. Not so last night. Mom wasn't seen by a doctor for five hours. We were in the ER the whole night. I am beginning to have the makings of a manifesto regarding the rights of patients and night/weekend health service closures. ( Read more... )
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June 25th, 2008
03:19 pm - "There was a difficulty in his throat"
I have been rereading Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, which I read originally a long time ago and couldn't remember at all. I liked it well enough the first time I read it, but am finding it ...busy. So many characters and gods and dark fates, special destinies, magic objects, villains, heroes, bouncing viewpoints. My head spins. In addition, Kay's tick (which all writers seem to have, but especially those that write fantasy trilogies) is "There was a difficulty in his throat." Reading that out of context, can you guess what that possibly means? I guess it means "all choked up" or "there was a lump in his throat," but I can't imagine where he came up with "difficult" or why he thought it was a good idea, but he must have, because it happens at least once per chapter.
Inspired by Kay, I thought I would offer some general guidelines for crafting your next fantasy trilogy:( Read more... )
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June 22nd, 2008
10:01 pm - Back!
We survived. Even had a nice time. First challenge: get to the camp outside of Muskegon by myself with all necessary gear. Done. Next: get checked in and set up tent and campsite without Brent. Done. Next challenge: attend violin classes, have fun, make friends, swim, play soccer, do arts and crafts, and toast marshmallows. Done. Next challenge: strike camp and get home in reasonable time. Done.
I won't say it wasn't a bit overmuch to do all by myself. I hadn't counted on tent camping without Brent. But we did it. I made a point of encouraging Glen to be independent all weekend. Made him help with camp chores. Had him buy his own snacks from the camp store. Sent him off on small errands around camp. One thing I couldn't bring myself to do was send him alone into the men's bathroom at the camp ground for a shower. And yet he's too old to go into the women's. So he came home dirty. Very, very dirty.
Felt better getting away from things for a few days. Now starting to feel worse again.
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June 19th, 2008
12:54 pm - Hijacking
I am hijacking Ella's LJ to thank everyone for the kindness and support. Catherine has been feeling very overwhelmed lately, and all of your comments have meant a great deal to her and me.
I know that if she allows herself, she will have some time to relax this weekend. It's a short time and goes by quickly because it is very busy, but a good, enjoyable sort of busy, not what she has been dealing with at home.
As for me, I am doing very well. The visiting nurse remarked in a relieved manner, "oh, that's very small" about my wound. (OTOH, Both she and the ER doctor said the incision should probably have been larger, but I don't fault my GPs for hesitating to cut wider and deeper.) The Vanco is keeping the MRSA at bay and hopefully will finish it off. I see Dermatology tomorrow to find out what my long-term options are. The discharging ER physician was pretty sure that means surgery. We'll see.
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