This week's column

Here's my latest column. Little did I know when I wrote it that it was only the preview for our Memorial Day weekend (which you can read about here.) Here's hoping that everyone stays healthy for a while.

Abby's recital performance

Click here to see a video of Abby's performance of Minuet 1 on my studio recital. She played beautifully, too!

Brian's recital performance

Click here to see Brian's performance of Au Clair de la Lune. It was his recital debut, and he played beautifully!

Recital photo

Here is a shot of the kids with Earl, before my studio recital a couple of weeks ago. From left: Abby, who played Minuet 1 on violin; Brian, who played Au Clair de la Lune on piano; Earl and Timmy. Fab photo credit to my sister!

Pennies from Canada

About a year and a half ago, I signed up with a website called Suite101.com to be one of their writers. Suite101.com is, essentially, the Canadian version of About.com. I ended up writing two articles and then cancelling my contract because of other writing commitments. (You can read the articles if you like: one about Suzuki piano, and the other about techniques to strengthen your marriage.)

I thought that was the end of it.

Imagine my surprise when I got a notification from Paypal yesterday that Suite101.com had deposited $10.27 in my account.

Apparently, enough people have been reading those two articles that the penny-per-click rate, or whatever it was, has added up to enough money to buy, say, two packages of Silly Bandz.

A Canadian windfall. Who'd-a thunk it?

Just call me Patsy

Crazy, I'm crazy from deadlines a-looming...
I'm crazy...crazy from kids through with school...(almost....)
I know I usually like to be busy,
But lately, I'm runnin' around like a fool.

Worry, why do I let myself worry?
Wondrin' how I got so much to do?
Crazy...with writing and teaching and children,
And then there's the diet; oh why did I try it
When I'm crazy with so much to do?

Ups and downs

We went to our petite maison in Quebec for the long weekend. In many ways, it was a great time. Long walks, campfires and roasting marshmallows, an awesome solo bike ride -- my first of any length in years -- and lots of fun family time.

Casting a pall over our time away, however -- besides the smoke from the Quebec forest fires -- was the fact that poor Abby was very sick. She had a stomach bug, and wasn't able to keep anything down from Friday afternoon through Monday evening. She had a slight fever, took three-hour naps both Saturday and Sunday, and suffered the effects of topsy-turvy digestion, dehydration and general malaise.

Earl and I were getting quite concerned on Sunday, so we called her pediatrician's office. We were given a strategy of offering her a sip of water every 1o minutes, and if that stayed down, to try a little bit of a popsicle. If they made her sick, we'd have to take her to the ER to get her some IV fluids.

Luckily, the sips and popsicle helped a lot. She still wasn't perky, but she slowly improved. Upon returning home last night, she was able to eat plain pasta and even a little bit of a meatball, against my better judgment. She went to school today and ate pizza, of all things, so she indeed is on the mend.

I do think that Abby had a true stomach illness, but I also believe that her anxiety about going to Canada, about being pulled out of school on Friday and about all the changes coming up with the close of the school year definitely made things worse. My thoughts aren't fully formulated on this, but I think if she had been home, her recovery would have been quicker.

As if being sick weren't enough for Abby, tragedy struck when we were in Canada. Blueberry, the betta fish, Abby's loyal companion since last July, didn't survive the weekend. Abby was sad, but has recovered, and is looking forward to getting another betta, probably once school is out.

I'm just looking forward to having my sweet daughter healthy for a while.