Commitments and deadlines and responsibilities, oh my!

It's August and I am trying not to freak out as I look over the many calendars that keep my life on track. With a target release date of mid November for the second book in the Orphans and Inmates series (as yet untitled) and a 60 hour a week day job, it's time to suck it up and get to work.  A plan is necessary, hence my examination of the calendars.

The first calendar documents of all of the commitments relating to the Erie County Poorhouse Cemetery Project.  We are giving a talk for the Museum of disABILITY  History on August 22.  I am very excited about this because I love this museum's commitment to understanding and preserving the story of the individuals who lived part or all of their lives in various institutions, like the Erie County Poorhouse,during the nineteenth century.

Next on the list is the Western New York Genealogical Society's 40th Anniversary Luncheon on September 20th.  The genealogical community is very excited about the Erie County Poorhouse records.  We have had several requests to search the ledgers by individuals looking to track down family members who were either inmates at the poorhouse or patients in the insane asylum or hospital.  We look forward to introducing these resources to the genealogical community.

The second calendar holds the deadlines associated with the ECPH Cemetery Project.  While the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropology (http://physanth.org/) is in April, abstracts for research presentations are due September 15th (which also happens to be my birthday!).  I am still analyzing data from the ECPH Hospital Records.  We are specifically interested in the frequency, treatments and survival rates of patients who were admitted with infectious diseases.  Time to move this project off the back burner!

We have also committed to writing a chapter in and an edited volume entitled The Bioarchaeology of Dissection and Autopsy in the United States.  Our chapter, which uses a combination of historic records and skeletal data to document how the unclaimed inmates who died at the Erie County Poorhouse were transferred to the area medical schools for dissection,  is due by the end of November. Whew, a bit of breathing room there!

In the old days I would just work into the wee hours and get it done.  Not bloody likely these days as it's fifteen years later and I am fifteen years older!  I also have a day job that takes up a considerable amount of my time and mental energy!  That leads me to the third calendar, the boarding calendar.  In addition to running two doggy daycares, my husband and I also board many of our canine clients.  It started out as a courtesy service, but has grown into an important part of our business.  During the summer months the boarding calendar is full.  Even with the staff to help out, I am still responsible for the morning kennel chores. I can tell you that the enthusiastic greeting of several pooches all wanting out of their kennels at the crack of dawn is not well received after an all nighter of writing or research!

So, what's a girl to do?  Delegate!  As it happens, I have a teenage son who is on summer break!  Many of the time consuming domestic chores (cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.) will be passed on to him.  I know, I know, I will have to sacrifice my standards a bit. At least I won't have to look around the kitchen to find things, as he crams everything into one drawer, maintaining that if the drawer can close, the dishes are all put away properly!  Anyway, it will be a good life lesson for him and I will have a few extra hours each week.  I imagine the news of his new domestic assignments will not go over well, that's okay, I have a secret weapon called Catholic guilt and if that doesn't work there's always the Xbox privileges to be renegotiated!  Stay tuned...