Day Off

NaNoWriMo - day off

NaBloPoMo - well, call it cheap, but this is my post for today.

2011 Gratitude Challenge -

I am grateful for my brother today. Since I moved away from Salt Lake City in June of 1997 with my husband and (then only one) child, he has had the lion's share of care for our aging mother. He had put his life on hold, postponing finishing his master's degree in music at the University of Utah in order to at first care for her at home, and later, manage her affairs when she required more intensive medical intervention. Our mother passed away in March of this year, and he handled everything connected with her death and will sell the house within the next year, 95 percent of this on his own. I know it has been a wear on him. I wish we could have been closer so I could have taken some of the weight from him.

But my in-laws have medical issues of their own where we live now. My husband's Mamaw is a year older now than my mother was when she passed. Mamaw still lives at home, but needs a lot of in-home care. FIL (my father-in-law) now in his 60's has a host of medical issues related to a life of hard work.

I am a most fortunate woman.

Slow Saturday

UPDATES:

NaNoWriMo:
I wrote 2,269 words today, about being transferred to Home 6 and some of the ladies who lived there. My NaNoWriMo total stands at 10,693 words.
NaBloPoMo:
Today's prompt:
Oopahdoo, I forgot they don't give prompts on NaBloPoMo on the weekends.
2011 Gratitude Project:
I am grateful that God built us in day of rest. I planned out my NaNoWriMo so I could take Sundays off and still be done on time. Now I just hope I can do it...take a day off. Not my best thing.

Friday Fun

Updates:
NaNoWriMo: added 2,162 words today for a total of 8,424. Today the writing seemed to go with the differences between management's talk and walk. Kind of an Orwellian, "some people are more equal than others". Ugh. Had to remind my well-meaning 14 yr old son that while I am writing, I would prefer not to have interruptions talking about cross-over fan fiction (between a tv show and one of his computer games). I told him he could, however, interrupt me for emergencies and hugs.
NaBloPoMo:
Today's prompt:

Friday, November 4, 2011 When you are writing, do you prefer to use a pen or a computer?

OMG, I have to use a computer. My mind races two or three ideas ahead of the pen sending out words onto the paper, so much so that oftentimes a word from one idea will somehow be mashed into the word from another idea, making up a whole new, utterly unrecognizable word. (I wonder if that's how Shakespeare introduced like 10,000 new words to the English language.)
I guess some of it has to do with the purpose of the writing. If I am writing a letter, I much prefer pen and paper, especially if that paper is self-decorated and possibly even self-made.
2011 Gratitude Challenge:
I had thought of something really good earlier this morning when I was outside with our dog, Sneakers. But when it came time to write about it, it had flown the coop. So I went outside to try and remember it by retracing my steps. That idea is still in hiding, but another one came out. I am grateful that we have food to eat, and rarely if ever (unless by choice) go hungry. I know not everyone, not even in our own community is that lucky. If there is a food bank in your area, please consider making a donation of food or money, or boxes or plastic bags...or your time. Especially in this upcoming season when we celebrate and give thanks for bountiful harvests We have all received help from someone at some time. Maybe we were able to "pay them back". Maybe we can show our gratitude by "paying it forward". Feeding America has a great food bank locator. If you are one of my US sisters or brothers, please take a look and find one near you.

Wild Weekend Wanderings

Updates:
NaNoWriMo: 2,174 words today, for a total of 6,262 words. My goal total for the 3rd was to be at 6,000 words so everything there is cooking just right. It was a little harder to get going today, but my 8 yr old DD has been sick since Saturday with a cold and is just having a miserable time...so mama doesn't get much sleep, capisci?
NaBloPoMo:
Well, I'm taking care of that one right now. Except I'm trying to follow their blog prompts, so need to take a minute and go check that out.

Thursday, November 3, 2011
Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?

OK, there it is. Oh, heck yes, I can listen to music and write at the same time. I listen mostly to country music (stop groaning, city sisters and brothers). But my laptop is in what could be grandiosely called our dining area, which spills over into the living room, where the tv is usually on Science, Military, or Nick Jr channels, so music per se does not really enter into is a lot. My music time is usually when I'm driving alone in a vehicle. Then I crank it up, unless I'm at a stop sign or in a neighborhood. Then I turn it down a little bit. But there is a song stuck in my head from a commercial right now...I know it's been on the radio, but the name just isn't coming to me, but I remembered another snippet of the tune just now, so maybe it will come to me eventually.
2011 Gratitude Challenge - Day 3: I am grateful to my mother and father for having me and honor the struggles they went through raising a family. It's not a job for wimps, that's for sure. Dad was agnostic, but went to church with us on Christmas and Easter, and when my brother or I played the piano. Mom was raised Christian Scientist and followed that Christian denomination until she passed away at the end of March of this year. Towards the end of her life, she stopped going to church, though, and for the most part, no one from the church contacted her. That always made me a little sad. I did not know my mother's father had been an alcoholic until maybe ten years ago. I wish I had, because that would have made some of her actions more understandable. And we might have been able to talk about it. Parents, please don't be afraid to be human.
My father passed away in 1979, when he was 47 and I was 17. I was in a play in high school at the time called "Lazarus Laughed". And I was very nearly stabbed for real by a Roman soldier character on stage. So that was a difficult time. Dad was the oldest of four siblings, children of a farmer turned railroad man and the first of his family to graduate college. I remember attending the ceremony at WVU where his doctoral degree was conferred.
They worked...hard...their whole lives to make sure my brother and I had every opportunity. Although we frequently disagreed on what those opportunities should be, I know without a doubt that they meant the best.
Finding New Friends Blog Hop: I've been doing blog hops for a while and this is my 2nd FNF submission. They are great for building followers and comments on your blog if you are new to the blogosphere and help to keep anyone's blog reading fresh, because there are always new folks hopping along. By and large, I have found a very supportive community and it is (they are?) GREAT!
Blog Hop Till You Drop: Another great group of bloggers. Check out a couple of the group...you never know where the next great idea is going to come from, right?
Peace out, y'all! :O)

A Lot of Ground to Cover

If anyone can jog my memory on how to get the buttons side by side (I know a little html) i/o one on a line, that would be SO GREAT! :O)
So, day 2 of NaNoWriMo is in the bag. I wrote 2032 words today, bringing my total to 4088 (or 4098, I can't remember which right now). Today it was mostly character descriptions of the 8 adult males with MR/DD with whom I worked during 2006. Don't worry, names are being changed to protect the innocent.
The NaBloPoMo prompt for today is:

Wednesday, November 2, 2011
If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be?

Wow...that is tough. The powers that be might have to move my date back, because there's going to be a LOT on the menu! *lol* One of my favorite foods is a gyro. And those are not complete without a baklava or two. There's a meat that I picked up quite often when I was an au pair in Switzerland 20 years ago from my mother's home canton, called Bundnerfleish, that would have to be at least part of the appetizer. That, and raclette cheese melted over potatoes. Add a big salad with garbanzos, bacon bits, water chestnuts and honey mustard dressing. A Coke Zero and/or a white chocolate peppermint mocha w/an extra shot or two (what would I care...if it is my last drink, eh?) of espresso. Dessert would have to include cheesecake (possibly turtle cheesecake) and pumpkin pie, along with a ridiculously large bowl of my own flavor creation, cinillamint mocha ice cream (cinnamon, vanilla, mint candy chips, coffee and chocolate).
I know, after all that, I would probably just wish that would be my last meal, but what a way to go.
I follow "Life According to Damaris" and saw on her blog a link for the Give a Hoot Wednesday Blog Hop, so this post is serving for that as well.
And the last thing I am covering today is the 2011 Gratitude Challenge, where participants agree to post one thing per day in November for which they are grateful. I know, I'm a day behind, but I found the challenge through someone who joined late, so I figured I could too.
November 1: I am grateful for my relationship with God. I'm not a 'thumper' by any means, but too much has happened in my life and I have gotten through it, to not mention Him here.
November 2: I am grateful for my family. Even though it is difficult sometimes, with various medical prolems and developmental issues, I would not trade my family for ANYTHING.
'Nuff said.
Thanks for reading and I invite you to leave a comment (and to follow me on GFC if you're feeling really adventurous. I'm 6 followers from 100 and would love to bust that barrier somethin' FIERCE!)

NaNoWriMo Kick-off

Well, it's here. NaNoWriMo month. For anyone who may have the same look on their face as folks in my family, that stands for National Novel Writing Month. The premise is to write 50,000 words of a novel, all during the month of November. Apparently, I found the site about 4 years ago, but this is the first time I am actually participating.

Given my penchant for getting on Facebook and whiling my computer time away there, I made a deal with myself to write on my novel, tentatively titled "Requiem for the Hated", first thing in the morning. I have written 2,056 words, or about 4% of the total. I am choosing to give myself the option to not write on Sundays, so my per day goal of 2000 words is slightly higher than the 1,666 words needed to write 50K words in 30 days.

It went faster than I thought today. But I suppose part of that is because it's the first day and I was especially eager to get writing. That and all of my ideas are in front of me. I think the challenge will come in the later days when there is less than 10,000 words to go, my ideas are mostly used up and the self-editing is in full swing.

I'm writing a fictionalized account of my work with adults who have mental retardation and/or developmental disabilities. For the initial draft, I'm using the real names, simply so I don't have to come up with covers for everybody and slow down the mad rush to 50K words. So there probably won't be a lot of novel excerpts in the blog...until I come up with covers.

Finally, NaNoWriMo supports a writing course for young people. I'd love to help them out, but am currently supporting a husband and 3 children, so I'm helping by spreading the word. Did you know that:

A $10 donation single-handedly powers our mighty servers for one hour, keeping adults and kids inspired and excited long enough to crank out the next page of their high-velocity masterworks.

So, if you are financially able, please consider supporting my writing by visiting my sponsorship page. If that is not possible, if you could see your way through to tweeting or posting for your followers on Facebook, etc, I would be very grateful!

And, if you would like to participate, there is certainly still time! Just visit nanowrimo.org and get going. And add me as a writing buddy (I'm KentuckyGal on the site).

It's Been a Couple of Weeks

You may notice it's been a couple of weeks since my last blog post. Let me explain.

I used to work at a local residential/teaching facility for adults with MR/DD (mental retardation and developmental disabilities). It was at once the most fulfilling and most frustrating jobs I have ever had. Would I go back to it, after two separate OTJ attack injuries in 2010 and a year and a half of Workmens' Comp? In a heartbeat. Will I? Not until the administration changes ... RADICALLY.

When I started there, I learned during training that I would be going to one of the "rougher" homes. The residents were mostly higher-functioning men. We took a "crisis management" course and learned methods to, if possible, de-escalate situations before they became physical. They worked about 50 pct of the time. Anyway, I made my peace with the fact at some point I would get injured on the job ... and that somehow made it easier, less scary.

From the beginning there was one resident, Shawn, whom it seemed nobody wanted to be assigned. Truth be told, I felt a little sorry for him. Then I found out why staff felt the way they did. Five times in the next six months I filled out IA1 paperwork for an on-the-job injury, caused by Shawn. (The space of a whole blog may not be enough to contain his whole story, let alone a single post, so suffice it to say that there were things in his history that made some of his less endearing behavior, although not excusable for an adult capable of independent thought, at least partially explainable. Shawn was far from the stereotypical "defenseless" adult with mental retardation...ask the folks at the local Walmart eye center.)

I thought that many of the "professional" staff enabled him terribly, treating him as a textbook case, rather than an individual. Once, a behavior analyst told me to give being Shawn's staff over to co-worker, and pulled me outside to try and explain why Shawn did what he did, that he wasn't able to do recognize boundaries, etc etc etc. I related to her that Shawn had told me once that he ran the house and everyone there had to do what he said. "And," I added to the analyst and psychiatrist who was standing nearby, "he was right!"

A week or so later, I found a letter behind my timecard that indicated "for the good of the residents I was being transferred to another home". Bullcookies.

In the middle of a huge wave to transfer residents into group homes, Shawn was sent to a small rural community with two other high-functioning male residents. The first time I heard that I could barely believe it. Every man they mentioned seemed to make a practice out of being "the biggest and baddest". I didn't figure it would end well.

Well, it ended one night in May. Shawn was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. A staff person said he found one of the other residents on top of Shawn, choking him. This man was arrested and charged with murder, but later released as the police found new evidence. Autopsy results showed that he died from internal abdominal bleeding, which lead police to believe that the staffperson was not being honest, and they wound up charging him with homicide and gross negligence. He is currently out on bail.

I was not there that night, so I cannot say, with certainty, what happened. I want to believe that this staff person (for whom there has been a groundswell of community support) would not be stupid enough to go past stopping Shawn's violent behavior to the point of killing him. And, while admitting that there are cases of abuse that happen in this setting, I know that the system is set up with so many rules that home staff cannot help but cross some of them, and so are deemed by management to be the "guilty ones" in cases where a resident is injured.

Here is what I do know. I did not like Shawn. After getting over my outrage at the reason why I was transferred to a different home, I came to see that it was a blessing, in part because I would no longer have daily interaction with Shawn. Would I, even now, stand between Shawn and someone else to (try and?) prevent harm from either person to the other, even if it meant getting injured myself? Yes.

Did Shawn deserve to die like he did?

No.